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Laboratories of Disease and Environmental Stress, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903
1,3-Butanediol-1,3-dicotanoate (BDDO), a synthetic source of energy, has been shown to be equal to corn oil when fed to chicks recovering from moderate and severe Newcastle disease virus infections. Body weight increments of chicks fed diets containing 10% BDDO were equal to or greater than those of chicks fed 10% corn oil, both with restricted feeding regimens. Kilocalories of metabolizable energy required to produce 100 g of body weight increment over a basal group was used as a means of quantitating energy demand. BDDO was comparable to corn oil as an energy source with no adverse effects. Liver/body weight ratios were greater in the BDDO-fed chicks. Circadian rhythmicity of liver size and liver glycogen content was demonstrated. Chicks fed BDDO had total liver glycogen content threefold that of the corn oil controls, which was attributed to stimulation of insulin secretion. Catch-up growth in the chick following the growth depression of disease appears to be as well facilitated by a synthetic source as by a natural one.
KEY WORDS: synthetic 1,3-butanediol-1,3-dioctanoate recovery catch-up growth
1 Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Federation Proc. 37, 849 (1978).
2 Present address: Home Economics Research, Agricultural Experiment Station, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717.
3 Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Linden, New Jersey.
Manuscript received 22 May 1978.