The Vitamin B12 Requirement for Hatchability of Chicken Eggs

INTRODUCTION INVESTIGATIONS with fish meal and fermentation products containing vitamin B12 showed that this vitamin was required not only for growth of chicks but also for hatchability of eggs (Lindstrom et al., 1949; Pensack et al., 1949; Carver and McGinnis, 1950). Lillie, Olsen and Bird (1949) injected eggs from vitamin B12-depleted hens with a solution of crystalline vitamin B12 at levels of 0.5 mcg. per egg before incubation and 1.25 mcg. per egg on the 10th day of incubation. They observed that hatchability of the vitamin B12-injected eggs was higher than that of the water-injected eggs but was not improved over the uninjected eggs. Mortality of chicks was not completely eliminated, and in one out of five experiments, chicks from the vitamin B12-injected eggs had higher mortality than the controls. Only the feathering and growth were reported to be uniformly better in chicks from the vitamin B12-injected eggs. Peeler et al . . .