The use of bile salts to improve absorption of tallow in chicks, one to three weeks of age.

Apparent fat absorption was 39.6 and 68.2% in chicks 4-7 and 14-19 days of age, respectively, fed purified-type diets with 8.2% tallow (TLW). Cholic acid (C.A.), chenodesoxycholic acid (Ch.A.) and taurocholate, sodium salt (T.A.) at .025 and .05% increased significantly the apparent absorption of fat by 8.4 percentage units in chicks 4-7 days of age, and as much as 10 percentage units in chicks 14-19 days of age. No significant increase in metabolized energy of diets was detected. C.A. was fed to S.C.W.L. hens at graded levels up to .2% in corn-soy diets containing either 4 or 8% TLW or hydrogenated soybean oil. No improvement in fat absorption or M.E. was detected in these hens which absorbed 86-89% of the fat. The data indicate that bile salts appear to be effective in improving the absorption of saturated-type fats only in young chicks whose absorptive mechanism for fat is not fully developed.