Germfree Chicken Nutrition II. Vitamin Interrelationships

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Abstract
Germfree and conventional White Leghorn chicks exhibited similar metabolism of and qualitative requirements for individual B-vitamins. The deficiencies of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folic acid were apparently somewhat more acute in germfree than in conventional chicks. Excreta (as measured from cecal and rectal contents) of deficient birds contain appreciable quantities of the vitamin which would save their lives if injected or given orally. The presence of these vitamins in excreta cannot be attributed to microbial synthesis in the germfree birds. Germfree chicks have been found to recover spontaneously from a vitamin K deficiency.