Further Observations on the Vitamin D Requirement of Turkey Poults

Abstract

IT WAS reported previously (Jukes and Sanford, 1939) that approximately 200 A.O.A.C. chick units of vitamin D per 100 grams of diet were required by turkey poults in the first 4 weeks to produce maximal calcification. Attention was drawn to the observation that turkeys and chicks might exhibit a species difference in their response to different forms of vitamin D. This species difference has been further established by the work of Willgeroth and co-workers with dihydrotachysterol (1943). The present report deals with further experiments on the response of poults to varying levels of vitamin D.EXPERIMENTALDay-old turkey poults were placed in electrically heated battery brooders in a room from which all daylight was excluded, and were fed the experimental diets immediately. Each group contained 14 birds, 7 of which were obtained from eggs laid by the University of California experimental flock (Jukes and Sanford, 1939) and 7 from a .