Effect of Dietary Antibiotics on the Growth of Chicks Receiving Suboptimum Amounts of Thiamine by Mouth or by Injection

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Abstract
Penicillin, aureomycin, or a mixture of antibiotics markedly increased the growth of chicks fed diets containing limiting amounts of thiamine. The effect was similar whether the dietary carbohydrate was sucrose or dextrin. When the level of thiamine in the diet was adequate, the antibiotics increased growth only slightly. Dietary antibiotics failed to increase the growth of chicks given suboptimum amounts of thiamine by subcutaneous injection. Variations in weight within groups were much less in the injected birds than in those receiving suboptimum amounts of thiamine in the diet. The presence of 1% of glycerol tended to stabilize the thiamine in semi-purified diets exposed to the conditions of the chick laboratory. Five per cent of glycerol added to the diet had no adverse effect upon growth or feed efficiency.
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