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Cholecalciferol Requirements of Young Turkeys under Normal Conditions and during Recovery from Rickets¹

Arie Bar^*, Samuel Edelstein, Uri Eisner^*, I. Ben-Gal^* and Shmuel Hurwitz^*

^* Institute of Animal Science, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel Biochemistry Department, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Day-old turkeys fed vitamin D-deficient diets became rachitic within 17–24 days. The symptoms included reductions in body weight, plasma calcium and inorganic phosphorus, plasma and intestinal calcium-binding protein (CaBP), plasma 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D₃], bone ash, and kidney 25(OH)D₃-24-hydroxylase and a rise in kidney 25(OH)D₃-1-hydroxylase activity. Supplementation of the diet with 12.5 µg cholecalciferol per kilogram was sufficient to promote maximal body weight and normal plasma calcium, plasma phosphorus and bone ash. Feeding diets containing 250 or 1250 µg cholecalciferol per kilogram resulted in a reduced body weight. An increase in the concentration of plasma 25(OH)D₃ with increasing dietary cholecalciferol concentration was observed. Feeding vitamin D-deficient rachitic birds for 4 days a diet containing 50 µg cholecalciferol per kilogram restored plasma calcium and phosphorus and bone ash. Body weight remained lower than that of the control for an additional 6-day period. Additional cholecalciferol, 25(OH)D₃ or 1-hydroxycholecalciferol in the diet, intramuscular injection of the vitamin D derivatives, or a highcalcium, high-phosphorus diet did not accelerate the recovery from the rachitic state.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin D • metabolism • deficiency • requirements • recovery • calcium-binding protein • turkey

¹ This research was supported by a grant from the United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD).

Manuscript received 11 February 1982.