Prevention of the Enlarged Hock Disorder in Turkeys with Niacin and Vitamin E

EARLIER reports from this laboratory (Scott 1950Scott 1951a, 1951b, 1952) have presented results showing that an enlarged hock disorder in young poults occurring when these poults are fed a diet containing 2 to 4 percent of cod liver oil can be prevented by supplementation of the diet with 5 to 10 percent of dried brewers’ yeast. Because of the findings that poults suffering from the enlarged hock disorder exhibited a marked creatinuria and a reduction in muscle creatine, plus the fact that the disorder was aggravated by the addition of cod liver oil to the diet, it was suggested that this condition in poults might be a form of nutritional muscular dystrophy. However, vitamin E, which is usually effective in preventing and correcting the symptoms of muscular dystrophy in rabbits and guinea pigs, was found to be without effect when added to the basal diet used to produce the enlarged …