Vol. XVIll. Xo. 43; 



THE AGRICULTURAL Xtiw?. 





^-i^is^!^' 



COMPARATIVE TOXICITY OF COTTON 

 SEED PRODUCTS. 



As was noticed in an article in the Agricultural Ncvs, 

 February 1.'3, 1U18, Messsrs. W. A. Withers and F. E. Car- 

 ruth, of the Chemical l.^ivision, North Carolina Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, have isolated a distinctly toxic substance 

 from cotton seed, to which the name gossypol has been given. 

 Notwithstanding this, a theory has been advanced ofifering to 

 explain cotton seed meal poisoning or injury as owing to 

 ■<lietary deficiencies. 



Messrs. Withers and Carruth have undertaken a further 

 series of experiments on four different species of animals, a 

 report of which is contributed by them to \)a^ Journal of 

 A^ncultural R-'Scanii. September l', 1918. The summary of 

 the results obtained and the conclusions arrived at are .juoted 

 ■below. 



Various cotton sfeed products, including raw cotton seed, 

 Uernels. ether-extracted kernels, gossypol, and several meals, 

 have been fed to rats, rabbits, poultry and swine. 



Raw cotton seed kernels and the gossypol therefrom 

 have been found highly toxic to all the.se animals. Cooking 

 the kernels under oil- mill conditions causes a profound reduc- 

 tion in toxicity. This change is so great that the thoroughly 

 -cooked products show no pronounced toxic effect on rats and 

 poultry in suitable diets. Thoroughly cooked meals, how- 

 ever, appear to be definitely injurious to rabbits and swine, 

 which are peculiarly susceptible to cotton seed meal 'injury.' 

 Rats and fowls are able to withstand much larger relative 

 amounts of cotton seed meal for longer periods. In the -cold- 

 pressing' process of making cotton seed meal the toxic sub- 

 stance pa.s3es into the oil to a great extent, thus leaving a 

 meal which may be less harmful than certain hot-pressed 

 ^meals. 



Cotton seed meal, cotton seed tlour, and ether extracted 

 raw cotton seed kernels have been fed to rats under comparable 

 ■conditions. Eats fed on extracted kernels have shown superior 

 growth over those on cotton seed meal or cotton seed tlour. 

 Ftem this fact it is inferred that even in well-cooked products 

 there remains .something slightly deleterious to rats fed on 

 diets containing these as the sole source of vitamines, 

 protein and minerals. Diets containing well cooked cotton 

 seed products, with a small amount of milk powder, appear to 

 be as efficient for rats as the control milk diet. 



The degree of toxicity of cotton seed meals depends on 

 the thoroughness of cooking in the oil mill. This change 

 appears to be due to oxidation of the gossypol to a sub- 

 stance which we have called 'Dgossypol'. Some meals may 

 he much more toxic than others, through failure to complete 

 this change. Since evidence shows that the gossypol of the 

 raw seed may be entirely changed to this far less toxic 

 material, it is suggested that the highly toxic effect of the 

 raw cotton seed be described as cotton seed poisoning, and that 

 injury due to the meal be described -as cotton seed-meal poison- 

 ing or injury. 



Diets containing cotton seed meal with corn meal^ or 

 soy bean meal with corn meal, as the =ole source of nutriment 



have led to failaie of O'lr rats. The addition of calciuia. 

 lactate, sodium chloride, and butter tends to avert this failure. 



Ltabbits are much more susceptible than rats to cottoi 

 seed meal poisoning. '!'hey have been very quickly affected 

 by much smaller relative amounts of the meal in diets which, 

 are apparently ade^juate for these animals. 



Aside from an apparently diminished egg production, 

 excessive amounts of cotton seed meal have not appeared ti> 

 be very injurious to hens. Some evidence is presented ro 

 show that the presence of unchanged gossypol in the diet .may 

 cause a peculiar discoloration of the egg yolk. 



Figs have been fed on diets designed to compare the 

 effect of cotton seed meals with similar protein concentrate.s, 

 such as peanut meal, soy bean meal, and other extracted 

 cotton seed kernels. 



Unsuccessful attempts have been made to avert cottoft 

 seed ineal 'injury' by supplementing a thoroughly cooked 

 meal with (a) meat scrap, calcium lactate, so<lium chlorid, anil 

 butter fat, or (b) 10 per cent of skim-milk powder. 



Cotton seed meal exerts on pigs a harmful effect, which 

 is not averted by improving the diet with efficient food mate- 

 rials. Such a harmful effect is not pioduced by similar food- 

 stuffs. Hence, we conclude that the cotton seed meal 'injury' 

 of swine is due, not to deficient diets, but to the presence of a. 

 toxic substance. In our opinion this toxic substance ia 

 cotton seed meal is the derivative of gossypol wliich we hava 

 called 'Dgossypol.' 



The general conclusion is that there remains a toxic. 

 factor in all the samples of cotton seed meal and cotton .seed 

 flour used in the experiments, although in the raanufactute 

 of cotton seed meal the gossypol undergoes some change 

 whereby the meal is rendered much less toxic than tbn 

 original raw feed. 



PRICES OF ESSENTIAL OILS. 



The Pi-rfuuiery ami Essential Oil Jiecord, December 

 1918 fives a list of approximate values of the various essen- 

 tial oils OQ the Knglish market at tlie end of every month in. 

 1918. Krom this it appears that Bay oil, which was quoted 

 at 13v. per fc. in .January, had risen to 2'2s. in December. 

 Lime oil, distilled, was 8.v. per Df). in Jauuary, but had declined 

 to 6.V. in December, while hand pressed had fallen from ilO.c. 

 to lti.s-.. West Indian Orange oil fetched 8.(. per R). in January, 

 rising during the course of the year to 9.f., but dropping '.o 

 S.v. 0(/. in 1 )eceraber. It is intended to insert amonj» Market; 

 Reports in each issue of this Journal the latest quotations to 

 hand of these West Indian essential oils. 



In this connexion the Record referred to above has noted 

 from time to time during the year ccmsiderable e.'ctension in 

 the West Indian lime oil industry, and Jamaica orange oil is 

 well known as a regular article of commerce. But if oranges 

 and limes can be made to yield their essence, there does not. 

 seem to be any reason why the lemon should not be 'pressed' 

 to a similar service. At any rate, until a thorough trial ia 

 made, it would hardly be reasonable to state positively that 

 Caribbean lemon oil is not a commercial possibility. 



In other fields within the Km[)ire Nigeria limes: South 

 African eucalyptus; Cyprus coriander, aniseed, and cummin; 

 Seychelles and Montserrat a jo wan: and Fiji bay oils have all 

 been noted ia the issues c' the y?<vv/Yf during the year 1916. 



