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THE protein level required for optimum growth of young poults was formerly thought to be approximately 24 percent of the diet (National Research Council, 1946). Work reported by Fritz et al. (1947), Scott et al. (1948) and Lloyd et al. (1949) indicated that with rations containing higher percentages of corn than those formerly used, the protein requirement was approximately 28 percent of the ration. Baldini et al. (1954) reported that the protein requirement of young poults was much lower if the ration was properly supplemented with lysine and methionine. Klain et al. (1954), however, have shown that, under their conditions, growth of poults fed a ration containing 21.8% protein supplemented with lysine and methionine was still not as rapid as with a ration containing a higher level of protein. The amount of lysine required by young poults for growth and for normal feather pigment formation to about 4 weeks of …

BLOOD meal has been reported to be a poor source of protein for poultry rations (Mussehl and Ackerson, 1931; Titus et al., 1936). Grau and Almquist (1944) showed that the serum and fibrin fractions of beef blood are of much better quality than the blood cell fractions in which isoleucine was the principal limiting amino acid. Squibb and Braham (1955) have found blood meal to be a satisfactory source of lysine in chick rations at levels of 2 to 4 percent. Block and Boiling (1951) have listed the lysine content of blood meal as approximately 8.8% of the protein. Since lysine is very easily destroyed or rendered unavailable by heat in processing protein material it was of interest to determine the availability for chicks and poults of lysine in blood dried by two different methods. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Two samples of vat-dried commercial blood meal which is commonly used for fertilizer . . .

REVIEW OF LITERATURE A STUDY of the effect of cortisone on the testes of birds was made by Leroy (1951 Leroy (1952). Injections of cortisone increased the size of the testes and combs of young cockerels but had no effect on the comb of the capon. Cortisone was also given to young, mature cockerels and drakes for twelve days. After that time, testes of the controls were all found to be in a pre-spermatogenic state whereas all treated groups showed active spermatogenesis. Courrier and Marois (1952) reported that large doses of cortisone (100 mg./day) inhibited the action of testosterone on the comb of the capon but did not inhibit the androgenic action of testosterone on the seminal vesicles of the castrate rat. The effects of cortisone on the White Leghorn cockerel and capon were also studied by Dulin (1955). Graded dosages of cortisone resulted in an inhibition of testes growth in …

MEAT-AND-BONE meals, because of their nature as a by-product of the meat packing and rendering industries, vary greatly in their feeding quality (Kratzer and Davis, 1959). This variability is caused primarily by the quality of the starting material or by the amount of heat-processing the meal receives. Growth trials using meat-and-bone meals as the sole dietary protein source give a reliable evaluation of the feeding quality of the meal. This type of evaluation is slow, however, and inadequate when a large number of samples must be assessed, or when decisions concerning the feeding quality of a meal must be made in a short period of time. The present study was undertaken to find a rapid chemical or physical method, or series of methods, to determine the feeding quality of meat-and-bone meals. Meat-and-bone meals contain large amounts of skin, cartilage, and connective tissue, and therefore have a high gelatin content (Almquist…

THE need for folic acid in the diet of the poult for growth and the prevention of a cervical paralysis has been noted by Richardson et al. (1945); Jukes et al. (1947); Russell et al. (1947); and Lance and Hogan (1948). Schweigert et al. (1948) fed turkey hens a ration containing 0.42 milligrams of folic acid per kilogram, and the same ration supplemented with 2 milligrams of folic acid per kilogram. They noted no difference in egg production or hatchability between these two groups although the poults from the hens fed the ration low in folic acid needed more of the vitamin for growth than the control poults. A number of investigators have reported on the effect of a folic acid deficiency on mortality and the incidence of malformations in chicken embryos. The deficiences were induced either by feeding folic acid deficient rations of natural feedstuffs (Taylor, 1947) or purified …

INTRODUCTION THE rate of food movement through the digestive tract of the fowl is of interest in both the laboratory and the field. The time required for the first excreta to appear after feeding provides a knowledge of the interim after which it is safe to start collecting the feces of a bird under a digestion trial. The length of time food material remains in the digestive tract may indicate to what extent microbiological synthesis of nutrients may take place. Differences in the time required for food to pass through the alimentary canal of chickens and turkeys as affected by production, temperature, antibiotics, age and sex have been observed and reported herein. Oats passed through the alimentary canal of fasted chicken hens in 5 to 6 hours according to Browne (1922). He found magenta stained bread dough, aluminum powder, gentian violet and methylene blue to be unsuitable as dye indicators . . .

THE occurrence of a pigmentation failure resulting in a white bar in the flight feathers of poults fed rations containing low levels of protein and/or fiber has been observed frequently (Goff, 1932 and Grau et al. 1946). Fritz et al., (1946) and German et al., (1949) showed that the feather pigmentation could be inhibited in poults fed adequate total protein by feeding vegetable protein concentrates which are low in lysine. Crystalline lysine was effective in preventing the abnormality. This problem has been studied further to determine whether amino acids other than lysine are involved and to obtain more information on the relation of lysine and total protein level to the pigmentation failure. EXPERIMENTAL Rations and experimental conditions Six experiments were conducted in which various combinations of protein concentrates and amino acids were fed. The basal ration consisted of the following per 100 grams: wheat bran, 10.0 g.; ground barley, 5.0 . . .

THE riboflavin requirements of the chick and the consequences of riboflavin deficiency have been fairly well established by Lepkovsky and Jukes (1936). Jukes (1938) found that the riboflavin requirements of chicks and turkey poults for maximum growth were about the same. Later work has substantially confirmed this observation, the requirements of chicks being about 250 micrograms of riboflavin per 100 grams of feed (Bethke and Record, 1942) and that of the turkey poult 270 (Patrick et al. 1944). The consequences of riboflavin deficiency in the turkey poult are not as well established as in the chicken. Lepkovsky and Jukes (1936) found that a dermatitis developed in riboflavin-deficient turkey poults, and Jukes (1938) later confirmed this observation. No paralysis was observed by these investigators. Patrick, Darrow, and Morgan (1944) did not find dermatitis in their riboflavin-deficient poults, but did find it in biotin-deficient poults. This raised the question of whether or . . .

THE growth depressing properties of sorghum for chicks were attributed to tannins (Chang and Fuller, 1964). Chestnut, quercyl, wattle bark and quebracho tannins depressed growth when fed to chicks at a 1% level, and tannic acid2 was toxic even at a dietary level of 0.5% (Vohra et al., 1966). Grape seed tannin was growth depressing for rats at a 5% level in the diet (Joslyn and Glick, 1969). Fuller et al. (1967) partially alleviated the tannic acid3 -induced growth depression by supplementing the diet with methionine hydroxy analog (MHA), choline and arginine. However, Vohra et al. (1966), failed to confirm this result. Potter et al. (1968) identified gallic acid, pyrogallol, 4-0-methyl gallic acid and pyrocatechol as the metabolic end products of tannic acid in the chicken. Joslyn and Glick (1969) recorded a higher growth depressing effect for gallic acid than tannic acid in rats at 4 and 6 percent levels…

PHENYLALANINE is an essential amino acid for the growth of chicks (Almquist and Grau, 1944). By the use of isotopic techniques, it has been shown that phenylalanine is converted to tyrosine in rats (Moss and Schoenheimer, 1940) and mice (Grau and Steele, 1954). Enzymes catalyzing the hydroxylation of phenylalanine to tyrosine have been isolated from the livers of animals (Uden-friend and Cooper, 1952; Kaufman, 1957). The reaction is not reversible since labeled tyrosine did not yield labeled phenylalanine in mice (Grau and Steele, 1954). Brown-black rats turned gray when fed diets of bread and milk which were deficient in tyrosine and tryptophan, while normal pigmentation resulted when casein diets were fed (Hartwell, 1923). Actually, bread-milk diets may have been deficient in lysine and copper also. Melanin pigments can be obtained by the action of the enzyme tyrosinase on tyrosine in vitro. In the strict sense it may be stated that …

IT IS known that vitamin B12 plays a role in the biosynthesis of labile methyl groups in vivo (Stekol and Weiss, 1950; Davis and Mingioli, 1950; Gillis and Norris, 1951; Liener and Schultze, 1952; Kratzer, 1953; Arnstein and Neuberger, 1953; Langer and Kratzer, 1964) and in vitro (Helleiner and Woods, 1956; Guest et al., 1960; Takayama et al., 1961; Dickerman et al., 1964). Vohra et al. (1958) have shown that vitamin B12 reacts nonenzymatically with formaldehyde to yield a “vitamin B12-formaldehyde complex.” Vohra and Kratzer (1960) have reported the isolation of a vitamin B12, formaldehyde complex from turkey poult liver homogenates supplemented with vitamin B12. They also reported that the formaldehyde portion of the complex was derived from either the β-carbon of serine or the α-carbon of glycine. Recently, the transfer of the methyl group from a methyl analogue of vitamin B12 to homocysteine, with the resultant formation of methionine …

DIETS for chickens containing more than 22% crude protein have been considered high protein diets in this study. Milne (1932) observed an adverse effect on the growth and liveability of chickens fed diets containing 38% protein. Heller and Penquite (1945) found poor growth in chickens on diets containing 35 or 40% protein. Almquist and Asmundson (1944), Heller and Penquite (1945), and Singsen (1949) obtained satisfactory growth of chickens fed diets up to 30% protein. Donaldson et al. (1956) found that less protein was required for a unit gain in weight of chicks as the calorie/protein ratio was increased for the diets containing 15 to 27% protein and 1760 and 2640 kcal./kg. of productive (P.E.) energy. Sunde (1956) overcame the growth-depressing effects in the diets containing 1440 and 1700 kcal./kg. P.E. due to an increase in the protein level from 20 to 28% by increasing the energy levels from 1760 to …

EXPERIMENTS on the pantothenic acid requirement of poults with an extracted type of ration indicated that the need for optimum growth was definitely higher than for chicks (Lepkovsky et al., 1945). Later work with a heated diet showed that, when it was properly supplemented, it could be used satisfactorily for pantothenic acid studies (Kratzer and Williams, 1948) whereas the heated diet had proven unsatisfactory earlier (Jukes, 1938). Symptoms of a deficiency in poults were dermatitis, poor growth and high mortality. Work with chicken hens has demonstrated the need for pantothenic acid for hatchability and good liveability in chicks (Gillis et al., 1948). In the present study, the need for pantothenic acid in the diet of turkey breeder hens was investigated in experiments extending over three breeding seasons. EXPERIMENTAL The basal ration deficient in pantothenic acid contained the following: water-washed fishmeal, 13.0 g.; heated ground corn, 50.0 g.; heated ground wheat, …

IT IS WELL established that Mycoplasma are egg transmitted and that this is the most common means of perpetuating chronic respiratory disease (CRD). Van Roekel et al. (1958), demonstrated grossly visible lesions in chicken embryos during the terminal stages of incubation as a result of Mycoplasma infection. The occurrence of embryos with such lesions was irregular in various hatches as well as in the progeny of individual dams. These authors found a relationship between air sac lesions in embryos and subsequent outbreaks of CRD in chicks. A limited number of observations has been made on the lesions produced by Mycoplasma in embryonating turkey eggs. McNeil and Hinshaw (1946) suggested that egg production and fertility are adversely affected by chronic respiratory disease. Hofstad (1957) reported a positive relationship between air sac lesions of poults and subsequent outbreaks of infectious sinusitis. He described caseation of the thoracic air sacs as the most …

IT IS well-known that the growth of chickens is inhibited if their diet contains either linseed meal (Kratzer and Williams, 1948; MacGregor and McGinnis, 1948), or ground carobs (Kratzer and Williams, 1951; Bornstein et al., 1963), or guar meal (Borcher and Ackerson, 1950; Vohra and Kratzer, 1964). In each case, the feces of the chickens were extremely sticky and tended to paste up the vent. Linseed meal loses its growth-inhibitory properties if it is given a preliminary water treatment; or if the pyridoxine content of the diet is increased (Kratzer and Williams, 1948; MacGregor and McGinnis, 1948). Similar treatment of ground carobs gave either very slight but significant (Kratzer and Williams, 1951), or no growth improvement (Bornstein et al., 1963) of chicks. Our unpublished studies indicate that guar meal is not improved either by treatment with water or by the addition of pyridoxine. Linseed meal, carob and guar seeds are…

THE value of cottonseed meal as a feedstuff for poultry is related primarily to its content of available lysine (Lyman et al., 1953). An important non-protein component that must be considered in rations for poultry is gossypol, a highly reactive compound unique to the cotton plant which must be largely removed or inactivated during processing if adverse effects on growth, egg production, egg quality and hatchability are to be avoided. The large amount of work relating to the problem of evaluating the nutritional adequacy of cottonseed meal for chicks has been reviewed by Lyman et al. (1953) and by Altschul (1954). Milby et al. (1943) reported satisfactory results from including cottonseed meal in turkey rations, although they reported no evidence for a supplementary action between cottonseed meal and soybean oil meal. Richardson and Blaylock (1950) obtained a growth response in poults by the addition of lysine to a ration containing …

THERE has been some confusion regarding the pantothenic acid requirement of chicks. Jukes (1939) who was the first to determine the chicks’ requirement, found it to be 14 mg. per kilo of diet. According to Bauernfeind, Norris, and Heuser (1942) the requirement is 6 mg. per kilo of diet, or less than half of that reported by Jukes. Bauernfeind, Norris, and Heuser pointed out that the difference could be accounted for, in part at least, by the depletion period to which Jukes subjected his chicks before feeding the various levels of pantothenic acid. Later Jukes and McElroy (1943) found 10 mg. per kilo of diet to meet the chicks’ pantothenic acid requirement. These experiments were conducted with diets in which casein, corn, and middlings were used after heating for 36 hours at 120° C. except test diet II in which washed casein was used. The heated diets used leave much . . .

Poults fed diets containing isolated soybean protein or soybean meal developed a dermatitis on their foot pads. It could be prevented by the addition of methionine to the diet but was unrelated to the addition of sulfate or extra biotin. This disorder was observed more in White than Bronze poults.

KRAYBILL and Wilder (1947) investigated the feeding value of meat scrap protein and found that some samples of meat scrap were deficient in methionine and tryptophan. Meat scrap in general was a good source of lysine. March, Biely and Young (1950) also studied the supplementation of meat scrap with amino acids. They found that lysine was the principal amino acid deficiency in a practical-type ration which contained meat scrap protein. Patrick (1953) studied supplements for a meat scrap-type chick ration containing 67.5% corn and found lysine to be the principal amino acid deficiency. The severity of the deficiency depended upon the batch of meat scrap which was used. A comparison of the amino acid content of meat scrap, as reviewed by Almquist (1957), with the amino acid requirement of chicks indicated that methionine and tryptophan are probably the amino acids which limit growth. Since amino acid analyses do not necessarily …

IT HAS been established previously that vitamin B12 is involved in the biosynthesis of labile methyl groups in the turkey poult (Kratzer, 1953; Langer and Kratzer, 1964). While its exact role in this biosynthetic pathway is still unknown, data have been presented which indicate that it functions in the de novo synthesis of the methionine methyl group (Langer and Kratzer, 1962Langer and Kratzer, 1964). The involvement of methionine in the biosynthesis of choline has been demonstrated in the rat liver (Bremer and Greenberg, 1959) and the last step in this biosynthetic sequence involves the transfer of a methionine methyl group to phosphatidyl-dimethylethanolamine yielding phosphatidylcholine (Artom and Lofland, 1960). Dietary dimethylethanolamine (DMEA) has been shown to be incorporated into body phospholipids (Artom and Crowder, 1949). This DMEA could then give rise to phosphatidyl choline by way of the transmethylation reaction described above. These observations could then logically lead one to suppose that an…

A DEPRESSION in the growth of rats was observed when 5% of agar agar or Irish moss was added to the diet of rats (Nilson and Schaller, 1941), while Vaughan et al. (1962) reported that carrageen-in inhibited the in vitro digestion of proteins by pepsin. Booth et al. (1963) found that the digestion in rats of agar agar was 21%, pectin 19% and guar gum 76% when fed at levels of 15%, 10% and 6%, respectively. Ershoff and Wells (1962) reported no significant growth depression in rats with 10% pectin, guar gum, locust bean gum or carrageenan. These materials, however, reduced plasma and liver cholesterol when 1% of cholesterol was fed in the diet. Fisher et al. (1964) reported that pectin reduced blood cholesterol in chicks fed cholesterol and Fisher et al. (1965) reported further that pectin reduced blood cholesterol in chicks only when cholesterol was fed. Vohra and Kratzer . . .

SummaryCarbon-14 and zinc-65 or cal-cium-45 appeared in the blood perfusing an isolated segment of the small intestines of chickens following placement of EDTA-2-C14 complexed with Zn65 and Ca45 in the lumen. The lumen tended to adsorb the zinc from its complex but not calcium. An efflux of 2.7 μM/hr cm was observed for calcium-45. The values for zinc-65 varied from 0.2-0.6 μM/hr cm.

A HEATED diet which was satisfactory for pantothenic acid deficiency studies with chicks proved unsatisfactory for similar studies with poults, since even when it was supplemented with pantothenic acid, poor growth and high mortality results (Jukes 1938). Later results confirmed the inadequacy of the heated diet for poults, but experiments with an extracted type of ration indicated that the poult requirement of the vitamin for growth was definitely greater than that of chicks (Lepkovsky et al. 1945). A series of experiments with a modified heated ration was conducted to study deficiencies in the heated diet and to determine more accurately the level of pantothenic acid required for early growth of poults. EXPERIMENTAL In an attempt to formulate a basal ration which would produce a pantothenic acid deficiency in poults and would give satisfactory growth when supplemented with pantothenic acid, some exploratory experiments were conducted. In one trial the heated diet . . .

THE production of safflower in this country has increased enormously in the last few years. The oil may be removed from the safflower seed commercially and the residue which is left is available for animal and poultry feeding. The undecorticated safflower cake contains 20.2 percent protein and 33.0 percent fiber (Woodman, 1945) and is of little interest to the poultry industry because of its high fiber content. However, by a decortication process it is possible to produce a meal with much higher protein and lower fiber content which compares favorably in gross analysis to other vegetable oil seed products commonly used in poultry rations. Previous work (Kratzer and Williams, 1947) showed that slight deficiencies of arginine, lysine, methionine, and either or both glycine and cystine were produced when safflower protein was fed as the only protein source in a chick ration. The safflower meals used in this work were samples . . .

VITAMIN B12 has been shown to give a growth response in chicks fed a ration containing no animal protein supplements (Ott, 1948). In turkey poults Scott et al. (1948) were unable to demonstrate a growth response by the addition of yeast and liver concentrate, which was a source of vitamin B12. Lillie et al. (1949) obtained increased growth in poults with fish meal or meat meal in the ration. They suggested that the improvement was due to the vitamin B12 content of these products, although a vitamin B12 concentrate or crystalline vitamin B12 was not tested. McGinnis et al. (1949), Singsen et al. (1950), Stokstad and Jukes (1950) Combs and Shaffner (1950), and Patrick (1951) have reported that vitamin B12 or vitamin B12 concentrates produce no growth response in poults, although several natural feedstuffs, fermentation products, and antibiotics were shown to increase the rate of growth. Almquist and Merritt (1951) . . .

REVIEW OF LITERATURE GRAHAM and Griffith (1929) found that a purified diet fed to rats was lacking in some essential nutrient. Normal growth was not obtained even when such a diet was supplemented with liver and yeast. Keenan el al. (1933) reported that chicks fed a simplified diet not only failed to grow but developed paralysis. The addition of hog liver to the synthetic diet produced normal growth and freedom from paralysis. Defatted liver substance was shown to contain two factors, one insoluble in water and necessary for growth, and one soluble in water and necessary for the prevention of paralysis. Griffith and Graham (1929) reported that the extraordinary effect of liver on the growth rate of rats might be attributed to an increased food intake resulting from a stimulation of the appetite. Elvehjem, Koehn and Oleson (1936) described an essential dietary factor in liver which was necessary for growth… .

Day-old male broiler chicks were fed for three weeks a purified casein diet with the addition of different levels of iron and ascorbic acid. Dietary ascorbic acid fed at 0.4% increased the hemoglobin concentration and total body iron retention when the diets fed were low in iron (23 p.p.m.). At 0.1% level in the diet, ascorbic acid caused an increase in total body iron retention in chicks fed diets marginal in iron (40 p.p.m.) and did not affect either parameter in chicks fed diets adequate in iron (100 p.p.m.).

True metabolizable energy (TME) values for brewer's dried grain, corn, milo, rice bran, soybean meal, stock mash, and water grass seed were determined for adult roosters using 24-hr and 48-hr periods for excreta collection. The values obtained by considering 24-hr excreta period were significantly higher than those from 48-hr excreta collection for brewer's grain, soybean meal, and water grass seed. TME values of corn and soybean meal were significantly reduced in the presence of 2% guar gum or 1% tannic acid, considering the excreta collection over 48-hr period. TME of soybean meal was reduced to the same extent by 1% tannic acid or .05% gossypol. The concept of TME utilizing either 24 or 48-hr periods for excreta collection for all feedstuffs is questionable.

STUDIES carried out with tracer techniques indicate that α-carbon of glycine gives rise to a single-carbon moiety at the oxidation-level of formaldehyde and this combines with α-carbon of another molecule of glycine to give rise to serine1. However, no free formaldehyde per se but formic acid has been isolated from the reaction mixtures containing liver homogenates, glycine-2-14C or serine-3-14C2,3. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments, compounds of the type of hydroxymethyltetrahydrofolic acid are produced from glycine and serine4,5 and this is strong indirect evidence for the formation of formaldehyde from α-carbon of glycine or β-carbon of serine.

SummarySodium phytate corresponding to a formula of C6H6O24P6Na12 · 3H2O (formula weight 977.8) was titrated against metal ions and in each case an inflection in the titration curve was obtained when 5 moles of a divalent metal ion had been added per mole sodium phytate. At a pH of 7.4, sodium phytate formed complexes with metals in the following decreasing order: Cu++, Zn++, Ni++, Co++, Mn++ Fe+++, and Ca++.

ALL-NIGHT lights bring turkey hens into production a little earlier than morning lights that extend the day to 14 hours, but there may be unfavorable effects on reproduction such as reduced hatchability (Scott, 1937; Davis, 1948; Asmundson and Moses, 1950). A test was set up which would provide some information about (1) the effectiveness of dim all-night lights, (2) the effect of changing all-night light to a 14 hour day after the birds started laying, and (3) the value of adding vitamin A, vitamin D, and riboflavin to a presumably adequate ration. The housing and management of the birds was similar to that reported earlier (Asmundson, Lorenz and Moses 1946; Asmundson and Moses 1950). The birds in pen 40 were given a ration containing more of vitamins A and D by doubling the fish oil; the riboflavin was increased by feeding 1 percent more of a fermentation product containing 250 . . .

While there is adequate evidence supporting the idea that vitamin B12 is involved in labile methyl group synthesis in vivo (Stekol and Weiss, 1950; Gillis and Norris, 1951; and Kratzer, 1953), there are few publications indicating a similar role in animal tissue preparations. Oginsky (1950), using livers of vitamin B12 deficient rats, found decreased methionine synthesizing ability when compared to normal rat livers. However, she used homocystine as the one-carbon unit acceptor and choline or betaine as the one-carbon unit donor. Since it is now doubtful that vitamin B12 plays a role in transmethylation from choline or betaine (Gillis and Norris, 1951), she probably observed de novo synthesis of the methionine methyl group in her undialized preparation. Recently Dinning (1961) reported that a vitamin B12 deficiency reduced methionine synthesis from formate and homocysteine in chick liver homogenates. Unfortunately, neither of these workers measured vitamin B12 in their liver preparations and …

Vitamin antagonists have been used extensively in nutritional and metabolic studies but their use in the field of chemical embryology has been limited. Cravens and Snell (1949) studied the effects of desoxypyridoxine on the development of the chick embryo and Karnofsky et al. (1949) used folic acid analogs in similar studies. Drell and Dunn (1946 Drell and Dunn (1948) reported that omega-methyl pantothenic acid, which has a methyl group substituted for a hydrogen in the terminal group of the pantoyl portion of the molecule, is an antagonist of pantothenic acid for many species of lactobacilli and, later, for rats and mice. Bean and Hodges (1954) have also reported a pantothenic acid deficiency with omega-methyl pantothenate in humans. These results could not be confirmed by Bird and co-workers (1955) who were unable to induce a pantothenic acid deficiency in rats using either omega-methyl pantothenic acid or omega-methyl pantethine. Omega-methyl pantethine, however, was found to …

The carob tree (Ceralonia siliqua) thrives on semiarid regions of Mediterranean countries and is a valuable source of locust gum which is separated from its seeds. The average composition of carob pods is as follows (Binder et al., 1959): total sugar as glucose, 43.3%; crude protein, 4.6%; crude fat, 0.7%; pectin, 1.43%; fiber, 7.2%; and ash, 1.95%. Various attempts have been made to use seed-free ground carob pods for feeding chickens. When levels of 5% to 40% of ground carobs are used to replace an equivalent amount of cereals, a marked depression in the growth of chickens has been observed (Kratzer and Williams, 1951; Vlachakis, 1959; Bornstein et al., 1963). The autoclaving of the carobs overcame this growth inhibition only to a slight extent in some reports (Kratzer and Williams, 1951; Valachakis, 1959) but failed in other cases (Bornstein et al., 1963). Contrary to the observations of Vlachakis (1959), Bornstein…

PETROLEUM products are sometimes used to spray milo and other sorghum grains before they are completely mature. This allows the crop to be harvested with a combine considerably earlier, than would be possible otherwise. Milo, which has been harvested by this means, may retain an odor of the herbicide and promotes a consideration of the effect that it may have upon the poultry to which it may be fed. The fact that organic compounds such as benzene hexachloride are absorbed and stored in the tissues of chickens (Hixson and Muma, 1947; Furman and Bankowski, 1949) emphasizes the fact that the herbicides may also be absorbed by the tissues in amounts great enough to become objectionable. Two phases of this problem are apparent: (1) the amount of the compound(s) which may be found on the grain after spraying and harvesting and (2) the effect which the herbicide may have on the …

IT has been shown that the growth of chicks is retarded when they are fed rations containing over 4.5 percent linseed oil meal, and that growth may be improved when the meal is first given a water treatment (Kratzer, 1946; MacGregor and McGinnis 1948). It has also been found that the addition of pyridoxine to linseed oil meal will improve the growth of the chicks to which it was fed, although the ration contained pyridoxine in greater amounts than is ordinarily required for good chick growth (Kratzer and Williams, 1948). Since there are some differences between the nutritive requirements of chicks and poults, it was of interest to determine whether linseed oil meal also causes a depression of the growth rate in young poults. EXPERIMENTAL Three experiments were conducted, but since the results were in agreement, the details of only one experiment will be reported. The basal ration contained the . . .