Increased Nutritive Requirements for Chicks to Prevent Exudation and Dystrophy Due to Dietary Long-Chain Polyunsaturates

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONLEONG et al. (1962, 1964) reported that levels of protectants ordinarily considered effective in feeds for preventing vitamin E deficiency syndromes were found to be ineffective in preventing exudation and dystrophy when the chicks were fed a high level of the last fraction of molecularly distilled ethyl esters of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids from menhaden fish oil.This particular fraction was included daily at a 5% level in a diet containing 44 parts per million (p.p.m.) dl-α-tocopherol acetate, 0.3 p.p.m. Se, 167 p.p.m. ethoxyquin, and 0.9% total sulfur amino acids. Miller et al. (1964), using diets containing the same levels of these protectants, later showed that these disorders were due neither to the ethyl ester form of the polyunsaturated fatty acids nor to the oxidation of the oil in the feed. Evidently the quantities of the protective nutrients present in the diet simply were inadequate to overcome the stress…