Further Studies on the Riboflavin Requirements of the Chicken

Abstract

THE vitamin requirements of chicks and laying hens occupy an important place in poultry nutrition research. Vitamin G has been shown (Norris, Heuser, and Wilgus, 1930; Bethke, Record, and Kennard, 1931 and 1933; Heiman, 1935; Lepkovsky and Jukes, 1935; Hunt, Record, and Bethke, 1936; and others) to be required by the chicken for normal growth and normal reproduction. Bethke, Record, and Wilder (1937) showed that the beneficial results observed when yeast, liver, milk, and so forth, were fed to chicks was in a large measure due to their riboflavin content. Norris and associates (1936); Heuser, Wilgus, and Norris (1938); and Davis, Norris, and Heuser (1938) placed the vitamin G requirements of chicks on a quantitative basis in terms of chick units; while Hunt, Record, and Bethke (1935–1936) made a similar determination in terms of rat units. More recently, Lepkovsky et al. (1938) presented evidence that riboflavin was of primary . . .