Avitaminosis K and the lack of heart lesions in poultry.

Poultry susceptibility to avitaminosis K-induced granulomatous endocardial lesions was studied in broiler and layer chicks. They were fed either a practical corn-soybean meal diet with and without added vitamin K (vit K), or a 61% raw sugar-isolated soybean protein diet (RS-IS) with no added vit K for 10 weeks. Heart lesions were not found in birds fed any of the experimental diets. Mortality, body weight gain, and prothrombin time did not differ significantly between birds fed the practical diet regardless of vit K supplementation. In contrast, the RS-IS diet significantly increased mortality, prothrombin time, and markedly decreased growth. Furthermore, more than a third of the birds fed the high sugar diet had subcutaneous edema, which resembled exudative diathesis. Compared with swine, poultry are apparently less susceptible to granulomatous endocardial lesions induced by a vit K deficiency.