The Role of Riboflavin in Turkey Poult Nutrition*

THE essential need of dietary ribo-flavin for turkey poults was reported by Lepkovsky and Jukes (1936) and Jukes (1938). They stated that a riboflavin de-ficiency in turkey poults is characterized by retarded growth, dermatitis, reduced feed efficiency, and poor feed consumption. A reduction in the efficiency of food utili-zation was more conspicuous than lack of appetite. Lepkovsky and Jukes surmised that crystalline vitamin G (flavin) was an "anti-dermatitis vitamin " when the turkey was used as the criterion. Patrick, Boucher, Dutcher, and Knandel (1941) were unable to protect the poult from dermatitis with riboflavin but were able to prevent it with a factor possessing the properties ascribed to biotin. Their data indicated that ribo-flavin was a growth factor and not a derma-titis factor for turkey poults. Further work by Patrick, Boucher, Dutcher, and Knan-del (1942) demonstrated that crystalline biotin was a turkey dermatitis factor and also that riboflavin was primarily a growth factor