Silicon: an essential element for the chick.
Silicon is required for normal growth and development in the chick when a low silicon diet is fed in a trace element controlled environment. Day-old deutectomized cockerels fed a purified amino acid diet showed significantly retarded growth and development within 2 to 3 weeks. Chicks fed the same diet plus a silicon supplement showed 50 percent higher growth and normal development. Silicon meets the criteria for an essential trace element.
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002645:Chickens; D003677:Deficiency Diseases; D004032:Diet; D006128:Growth / Q000187:drug effects*; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D012825:Silicon / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014131:Trace Elements
D014131:Trace Elements; D012825:Silicon