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The Chick's Requirement for Folic Acid in the Utilization of Choline and Its Precursors Betaine and Methylaminoethanol¹

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

Experiments were conducted with chicks to compare the antiperotic property of choline with that of betaine plus the methylaminoethanol compounds in the presence and absence of dietary folic acid.

The choline requirement of the particular strain of RIR x BPR crossbred chicks used as experimental subjects appeared to be satisfied with the addition of 0.05% choline chloride to a diet containing less than 0.007% choline when supplemented with adequate folic acid. When the diet was deficient in folic acid, levels of choline chloride up to 0.8% of the diet did not prevent perosis or promote maximum growth.

In the presence of adequate choline, the chick's requirement for supplementary folic acid was not more than 30 µg per 100 gm of diet. In the absence of choline, the folic acid requirement for growth was increased but was not more than 80 µg per 100 gm of diet for supplementary folic acid. High levels of folic acid did not protect the chicks from perosis in the absence of choline.

The chicks were able to utilize monomethylaminoethanol plus betaine as efficiently as an equimolar concentration of choline, either in the presence or absence of folic acid. The results demonstrated that in the chick folic acid is not concerned with the transfer of methyl groups from betaine to form choline. Folic acid was found, however, to be essential along with dietary choline or choline formed from dietary betaine plus monomethylaminoethanol for the prevention of perosis.

² Present address: Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Manuscript received 9 September 1954.