A.P.F. Supplements in the Chick Ration

Abstract

THE early studies on the animal protein factor(s) were made with chicks hatched from breeder stock fed all-vegetable rations, and later with chicks from depleted breeders kept on wire screen floors. In addition, the rations fed to the chicks themselves were often extremely high in soybean oil meal in order to induce differences in the rates of growth between A.P.F. supplemented and unsupplemented rations. The following tests were conducted to determine the need for animal protein factor in the diet of chicks obtained from flocks fed commercial breeder rations containing variable amounts of animal protein concentrates.EXPERIMENTALTest 1 was conducted with New Hampshire cockerel chicks obtained from a commercial breeding flock. They were fed all-vegetable rations containing 16, 18, and 20 percent protein respectively, soybean oil meal being used as the protein supplement. In addition, chicks were fed rations of similar protein content containing 3 per cent fish meal. .