Germ-Free Chicken Nutrition I. Gross Development and Vitamin Utilization Studies Employing White Leghorn Chicks

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Abstract
Chicks reared for short periods of time (4 to 8 weeks) on experimental diets in the complete absence of other demonstrable living forms grew and developed as well as control chicks fed the same diets. The addition of sources of unidentified vitamins did not significantly increase the growth rates of germ-free chicks. A study of the stability of vitamins and amino acids in the diet during steam sterilization and subsequent storage indicated that thiamine was the only nutrient seriously affected. Large quantities of vitamins were found in the cecal contents of germ-free as well as of control chicks, showing that vitamins found in the lower intestinal tract are not necessarily of bacterial origin.

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