A CHICK GROWTH FACTOR IN COW MANURE

Abstract

Hammond (1) reported the feeding of dried cow manure to growing chickens.He found that it improved the rate of growth when added to low grade growing diets.The addition of dried cow manure to a good diet did not make it any better.Hammond (2) reported later that dried cow manure supported growth and e&iency'of feed utilization in chicks approximately as well as alfalfa leaf meal when added to a practical war time di ' nntaining sardine fish-meal.Whitson et al. (3) showed that 8 per cent 2d cow manure and 3 per cent of sardine fish-meal were about equally ehective in improving the growth ;of chicks fed a diet containing 35 per cent s.x)y bean oil meal and no ani& @oteirn.These authors concluded t';le substance contributed by cow manure 'l\-as not a protein or any of the ~4, mically char* cterized vitamins.This paper shows that the growth substance in manure is not identical v ith any of the uncharacterized growth factors which have been reported sentinl for the chick; namely, the Lacto!mt!Zus casei factors, factor U, ' nd S, vitamins B,, and Bll, ancl?!'#~?acid.IY:~ reported (4) that the&:'ar$thr&?Lactobacillus casei factors.Eacll fa:ac has been isolated from's ditierent source: one frofi liver (5), anothc *% from yeast (5), and the third from a ferdentation residue (4).The evidence thus far reported (6) indicates that thqrecently synthesized folic acid (Lederle) is identical wiOh the %.casei factor from liver.Vitamin B,, the antianemia and chick growth factor, first reported by Hogan and Par-rot& (7) and obtained in crystalline form by Pfiffner et al. (S), is believed bJ St#okstad (5) to be identical with the L. casei factor from liver.Two of the three Lactobacillus casei factors have been shown to be required by the chick.The factor from liver has been shown to be required (7-11) for the prevention of anemia and the promotion of growth.The evidence presented for t&e synthetic Lactobacillus casei factor (6) shows that the prevention of anemia and the promotion of growth parallel each other when the basal diet is fed alone and supplemented with 50 y per 100 gm. of diet.The report of Campbell et al. (12) shows that vitamin B, prevents anemia and promotes growth at the same time on a given dose of the crystalline material.38~