Summary
Carcass composition, plasma protein, and hematocrit determinations were carried out on normal adult male chickens, and on adult males depleted by starvation for 4 weeks. For the first 2 weeks of depletion, N excretion was also determined for the starved animals. The following observations were recorded:
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1.
During 2 weeks of starvation the adult rooster lost approximately 25% of his body weight, and between 10 and 20% of his carcass N.
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2.
There was no loss in either weight or N content of feathers upon depletion; there was, however, a significant loss in feather fat.
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3.
The survival time of starved birds appeared to be related to their initial, prestarvation fat reserves.
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4.
The energy needs for repletion of depleted roosters, expressed on a body weight basis, were considerably higher than those necessary for maintaining normal animals. This appeared to be primarily a reflection of the greater proportion of ‘lean body mass’ (carcass N) in the starved birds.
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Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, New Brunswick. Supported by a grant-in-aid from the National Science Foundation G-11399.
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Summers, J.D., Fisher, H. The nutritional requirements of the protein-depleted chicken. Z Ernährungswiss 3, 48–56 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02021339
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02021339