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Further Studies on the Role of Potassium in Growth and Bone Formation¹

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

1. In these experiments chicks required 0.20% potassium in an otherwise adequate diet for a maximum rate of growth during the first 4 weeks of life. It appears, however, that due to an interrelationship in the metabolism of potassium and phosphorus, the requirement for potassium was increased to as much as 0.24% when the phosphorus content of the diet was suboptimum.

2. Bone calcification, as measured by the per cent of bone ash, was significantly influenced by the amount of potassium in the diet. It appears that diets containing inadequate potassium resulted in reduced calcification due to a disturbance in phosphorus metabolism. Under such conditions the inorganic phosphorus in blood plasma was significantly reduced, while there was no measurable effect on calcium in the plasma. The amount of potassium required for optimum calcification was less in the presence of an adequate intake of phosphorus than when the phosphorus allowance was suboptimum.

3. Potassium was also concerned in the economy of feed utilization, the maximum feed efficiency being obtained with amounts of potassium which were approximately optimum for growth.

4. Contrary to results reported with certain other species, potassium deficiency was easily produced in chicks receiving adequate amounts of biotin. Supplementary biotin in amounts 10 times the ordinary requirement, administered orally or by injection, was without effect on the development or remission of symptoms of potassium deficiency in chicks.

5. Results obtained with rats confirmed the effect of phosphorus on the potassium requirement for growth and bone calcification as observed in chicks. The potassium requirement of the rats in these studies was approximately 0.16% of the diet. The amount of phosphorus required for maximum bone calcification in the rat was greatly in excess of the amount required for normal growth.

² Resident Doctor.

Manuscript received 11 May 1950.