The Pantothenic Acid Requirement of Turkey Hens

EXPERIMENTS on the pantothenic acid requirement of poults with an extracted type of ration indicated that the need for optimum growth was definitely higher than for chicks (Lepkovsky et al., 1945). Later work with a heated diet showed that, when it was properly supplemented, it could be used satisfactorily for pantothenic acid studies (Kratzer and Williams, 1948) whereas the heated diet had proven unsatisfactory earlier (Jukes, 1938). Symptoms of a deficiency in poults were dermatitis, poor growth and high mortality. Work with chicken hens has demonstrated the need for pantothenic acid for hatchability and good liveability in chicks (Gillis et al., 1948). In the present study, the need for pantothenic acid in the diet of turkey breeder hens was investigated in experiments extending over three breeding seasons. The basal ration deficient in pantothenic acid contained the following: water-washed fishmeal, 13.0 g.; heated ground corn, 50.0 g.; heated ground wheat, …