A Study of Certain Organic Acids as Potentiators of Antibiotics

INTRODUCTION RECENT reports by Peterson et al. (1959) and Price et al. (1959) have shown that terephthalic acid fed with certain antibiotics will increase the blood serum antibiotic level. Since antibiotic-terephthalic acid combinations may, in the future, be used more widely in antibiotic therapy, information concerning the effects of this combination on factors other than disease is needed. The experiments reported herein were designed to investigate the nutritional effects of terephthalic acid and other acids having related structural formulas when fed both with and without antibiotics in practical-type broiler rations. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Five feeding trials were conducted in electrically heated battery brooders with raised wire floors and a sixth trial was conducted in floored pens. Day-old, straight-run, broiler type chicks (Peterson White Cornish × Arbor Acres White Rocks, Peterson White Cornish ×. University of Arkansas White Wyandotte, or purebred White Rocks) were used in these experiments. For the battery trials, …