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Potassium Requirement of the Chick¹

One Figure

Agricultural Experiment Station and School of Nutrition, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

1. Rapidly growing, White Leghorn male chicks were found to require from 0.20–0.24% dietary potassium for maximum growth. The requirement for potassium was slightly higher when the phosphorus in the diet was at a marginal level than when an optimum amount of phosphorus was present; 0.16% potassium was adequate for the prevention of mortality.

2. Chicks receiving a marginal level of phosphorus in the diet required approximately 0.20% potassium for optimum calcification of the bones, while the corresponding requirement in the case of chicks receiving an optimum allowance of phosphorus was 0.16% potassium.

3. Symptoms of potassium deficiency in the chick included retarded growth, weakness, loss of use of legs and the excretion of large amounts of urates. Death was preceded or accompanied by tetanic seizures in which the muscles were unable to relax. Mortality commenced as early as the 5th day in deficient chicks, and no chicks receiving the basal diet, containing 0.04% potassium, survived the 4 weeks' experimental period. Post mortem examination revealed lesions in several organs, particularly the kidneys and ureters which were enlarged and usually congested with urates.

Manuscript received 1 April 1948.