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Effect of the Pteroylglutamic Acid Intake on the Performance of Turkeys and Chickens¹

Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, and Department of Poultry Husbandry, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, College Station, Texas

1. The effect of feeding diets low and high in pteroylglutamic acid on the performance of adult chickens and turkeys and turkey poults was determined.

2. When a basal diet containing 0.42 mg of PGA/kg of ration was fed to turkey or chicken hens no detrimental effect on egg production, hatchability, hemoglobin level or general appearance was demonstrated as compared to when 2.0 mg of PGA were added/kg of ration.

3. The amount of PGA found in the eggs of both chickens and turkeys was markedly lower when the basal diet was fed as compared to the amount found when the diet supplemented with PGA was fed.

4. The "apparent" free folic acid content of the blood was also lower for the turkeys fed the low PGA diet while the level in the blood of the chickens was relatively insensitive to differences in the dietary treatment. The amount of PGA observed after enzymatic digestion of the blood samples, however, was shown to be approximately the same for both groups of chickens and turkeys, regardless of dietary treatment.

5. A higher mortality and slower rate of growth were noted when both young poults and the hens were fed diets low in pteroylglutamic acid than when a supplemented diet was fed either to the hens, to the poults, or to both.

6. For poults from hens adequately supplemented with PGA, 0.8 mg of the vitamin/kg appeared to be adequate; however, for poults from hens fed the diet not supplemented with PGA, the requirement is apparently greater than 0.8/kg of ration.

Manuscript received 21 August 1947.