The Effects of Environmental Temperature on the Growth and Nutritional Requirements of the Chick ,

Abstract

BIOLOGISTS have long recognized that the climatic environment has a profound effect on growth, reproduction and other functions of both plants and animals. Daily and seasonal fluctuations in temperature, light, humidity, air movement, solar radiation and other radiations from outer space are such that it is almost impossible to characterize a “normal environment.” Much valuable information has been gained by the observation of the response of chickens to a naturally fluctuating environment, but knowledge of the mechanisms involved has awaited the development of facilities in which more of the environmental factors can be controlled. Philips (1916) observed that in Indiana the time of hatching greatly influenced the growth rate of White Leghorn chicks. Later studies by Upp and Thompson (1927) at the Oklahoma station showed that White Leghorns hatched in the winter grew more rapidly than those hatched in the spring and similar observations were made by Hays and Sanborn …