Evaluation of the Effect of Additions of Vitamin B12, dl-Methionine, and Procaine Penicillin, Singly and in Combination, to Corn-Soybean Diets for Young Growing Chicks

Abstract BRIGGS (1952) has published a comprehensive review of the literature up to 1952 on vitamin B12 and the antibiotics (as well as new growth factors) in the nutrition of poultry. Matterson et al. (1953), Menge et al. (1953), and Reed, Quisenberry and Couch (1954) have reviewed the more pertinent papers on supplementing the diet of the growing chicken with dl -methionine. The essential nature of vitamin B12 and the growth-stimulating effect of the antibiotics (including procaine penicillin) under certain conditions are well established. The value of supplements of small quantities of dl -methionine to practical diets of growing chickens is, however, still open to question. At least, the conditions under which such supplements are of value—if they truly are of value—have not been stated unequivocally. Some workers have reported that small additions (usually, 1 pound per ton, or 0.05 percent) of dl -methionine to the diet have resulted in an increase …