Dried Penicillin Mycelium as a Riboflavin Source in Chick Rations

Abstract

NEWELL, Peterson, and Elvehjem (1947) reported that dried penicillin mycelium, produced under pilot plant conditions, could be successfully used as a supplement to soybean oil meal in chick rations. These workers found dried mycelium to be a good natural source of riboflavin and fed levels up to 20 percent of the ration with no harmful effects. No observations have been reported, however, on the use of penicillin mycelium produced under commercial conditions.Culton and Bird (1940) found that the addition of dried skimmilk to a riboflavin-low diet resulted in more rapid growth of chicks than was obtained by the addition of an equivalent amount of crystalline riboflavin. Other unpublished results3 from this laboratory also show a slightly greater improvement in the growth of chicks when riboflavin was supplied in the form of a butyl fermentation residue than when crystalline riboflavin was fed. Since it has been shown by Bethke and .