The Development of Perosis in Turkey Poults and Its Prevention

Abstract

PEROSIS in chickens has been intensively studied during the last decade. The early work was reviewed by Branion (1938). Chick perosis may result from a deficiency of manganese (Wilgus, Norris, and Heuser, 1936Wilgus, Norris, and Heuser, 1937a) or from excessive amounts of calcium phosphate in the diet (Payne, Hughes, and Leinhardt, 1932; Sherwood, 1932). Chicks require more manganese in diets containing large amounts of calcium and phosphorus because the calcium phosphate prevents the absorption of manganese from the intestinal tract (Caskey and Norris, 1938). Manganese salts and feedstuffs rich in manganese were found to prevent chick perosis in most instances (Wilgus, Norris, and Heuser, 1937a). Hogan, Richardson, and Patrick (1940) report that managanese did not give 100 percent protection from chick perosis with their diets but they obtained complete protection by feeding a 95 percent ethyl alcohol extract of dried liver in addition to manganese. Ringrose, Martin, and Insko (1939) obtained a high . . .