X. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 97 



muscle, and liver have been reported by Herrmann to be reduced by sup- 

 plements of 0.5 g. of choline chloride daily in the diet of old laying hens.^^ 



Ducklings reciuire choline for growth and for prevention of perosis^*^ • *^■' 

 and of fatty infiltration of the liver. ^^- Betaine was not found to be anti- 

 perotic or growth-stimulating, nor was methionine lipotropic in this 

 species. ^^- 



Young turkej's require choline, and the effects of a deficiency are similar 

 to those in the chick. Perosis is produced more easily, severe symptoms ap- 

 pearing without the presence in the diet of aggravating materials such as 

 creatine, gelatin, or glycine. The antiperotic requirement of choline in poults 

 is greater than the requirement for growth.^"- ■ ^^^'^'^^ Methionine has no ac- 

 tivity, although it is indispensable in the ration of the turkey. ^"^^ As in the 

 chick, arsenocholine is antiperotic, but betaine^''- and creatine^** have been 

 reported ineffective. Scott^*^ and McGinnis,^"*^ however, have observed that 

 betaine has a considerable degree of antiperosis if some choline is present 

 in the diet. Scott also found that creatine and sarcosine are as active as 

 betaine. This is an interesting finding in view of the demonstration that 

 choline was never completely effective as an antiperotic agent in diets lack- 

 ing animal protein unless either betaine or relatively high levels of glycine 

 and Bi2 were provided. According to Kratzer the effectiveness of choline 

 for growth was increased by B12 but its antiperotic activity was decreased, 

 and the possibility was suggested that more choline was used in growth and 

 less in antiperosis in the presence of Bio.^^" Betaine caused only a small 

 increase in growth and did not prevent perosis on a low choline diet. Biotin 

 and an unidentified organic substance^"^ and niacin^*- are believed to be 

 the contributing factors which with choline prevent perosis in the poult. 



D. DOG 



WENDELL H. GRIFFITH and JOSEPH F. NYC 



Choline is important in canine nutrition although it may be partly dis- 

 pensable in certain diets containing adequate levels of factors such as B12, 



3" G. R. Herrmann, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 61, 302 (1946). 



3" A. Roos, D. M. Hegsted, and F. J. Stare, J. Nutrition 32, 473 (1946). 



3« R. Bernard and J. M. Demers, J. Cancer Research 27E, 281 (1949). 



3" T. H. Jukes, /. Biol. Chem. 134, 789 (1940). 



3" M. Rhian, Wash. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 410, 33 (1941). 



3« R. J. Evans, M. Rhian, and C. I. Draper, Poultry Sci. 22, 88 (1943). 



"6 R. J. Evans, Poultry Sci. 22, 266 (1943). 



3" M. L. Scott, /. Nutrition 40, 611 (1950). 



"8 T. H. Jukes, Poultry Sci. 20, 251 (1941). 



3" J. McGinnis, Poultry Sci. 25, 91 (1946). 



35» F. H. Kratzer, J. Nutrition 48, 201 (1952). 



"1 H. Patrick, R. V. Boucher, R. A. Dutcher, and H. C. Knandel, J. Nutrition 26, 



197 (1943). 

 362 G. M. Briggs, J. Nutrition 31, 79 (1946). 



