The Utilization of Food Elements by Growing Chicks

AT THE Nebraska Station a ration has been used which produced very good growth in chicks. The question arose as to whether still better growth would result from that ration when supplemented with a vitamin concentrate. Accordingly a feeding trial was run to compare the rate of growth and the retention of nitrogen on a ration with the concentrate to that on a control ration. At the same time a question arose regarding the value of the addition to the diet of iodocasein which exhibits some of the properties of thyroxine. Among workers who have studied the effect of iodocasein additions to poultry rations are Turner and co-workers (1945a, 1945b, 1946) and Hutt and Gowe (1948). A review of other work in the field was furnished by Reineke (1946). Much of this work was done with laying hens, with less attention to the effect on newly hatched chicks. Robblee and . . .