Studies of the protein requirement of the neonatal rat
Czajka-Narins, D.M.; Miller, S.A.; Browning, M.
Journal of Nutrition 103(11): 1608-1615
1973
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3166 PMID: 4201669 Document Number: 61852
Rats from age of 1 day were hand-fed on equal amounts of diets containing whole rat's milk to provide 9.6% protein or diluted rat's milk to give 4.8, 2.4, 1.2 or 0.6% protein. Weight gain linearly related to protein intake. The results showed that the young rat has no maintenance requirement and uses rat milk protein for growth with about 71% efficiency. The young rats used a diet containing 5 to 6% protein from purified casein as well as a diet containing 4.8% rat's milk protein, but they were unable to handle diets with higher concentrations of protein from purified casein.