Interrelationships between biotin, choline and other B-vitamins and the occurrence of fatty liver and kidney syndrome and sudden death syndrome in broiler chickens

Interactions between many vitamins have been reported which can influence the course of metabolic abnormalities and deficiency conditions. However, few instances of interrelationships between biotin and other B-vitamins have been reported. In an earlier experiment to demonstrate the involvement of vitamins in fatty liver and kidney syndrome (FLKS) Whitehead et al. (1976) found that, although biotin was specifically involved in preventing the syndrome, multivitamin supplements not containing biotin appeared to increase mortality. Mortality was especially high when the supplements contained choline and cyanocobalamin. Since the extent of replication in that study was low, the effects of vitamins other than biotin on the occurrence of FLKS were reinvestigated. The first experiment confirmed the effect of choline and a second was therefore carried out to determine whether choline was affecting the biotin content of the diet or biotin metabolism in the bird. In the course of the first experiment, a large number of birds died showing signs of both FLKS and sudden death syndrome (SDS). The aetiology of SDS, sometimes known as acute death syndrome (ADS) or flip-over disease, is unknown, but Hulan el al. (1980) have suggested that vitamins including biotin may be involved in its prevention. The condition has not been reported previously in conjunction with FLKS, hence a more detailed examination was made of birds dying in the second experiment. Results are also presented from two growth trials involving biotin, one of which was carried out in conjunction with Expt 1, in which mortality from FLKS or SDS or both was observed.