82 



Bulletin 173. 



Feeding Palm Nut Meal. 



To cany still further the study of the effect of food upon milk 

 production a trial was made with palm nut meal. This work was 

 carried on during the winter of 1897 bj George N. Lauman, then a 

 Senior in the College of Agriculture. An experiment w4th this 

 food has a double interest because it is the one that Kiihn found 

 would increase the per cent of fat in the milk, as has been seen in 

 the summary of his work on pages 54 and 55. 



Palm nut meal is the by-product resulting from the extraction of the 

 oil from the fruit of a species of palms which are native to the west 

 coast of Africa. It is a highly nitrogenous product, its percentage of 

 digestible composition being protein 16.6, fiber 16.6, nitrogen free 

 extract 41.4 and fat 3.6. In Europe, and especially Germany, it has 

 long been a popular dairy food because of its stimulative effect upon 

 milk production, although not all feeders and experimenters have 

 found it to increase the fat content of the milk as was reported by 

 Kiihn. 



The meal used in this experiment was imported from Germany. 

 Six of the University cows were chosen for the test and divided 

 into two lots of three each. Before giving them the palm nut meal, 

 their regular daily ration had consisted of from 8 to 10 pounds of 

 grain mixture, composed of three parts gluten feed, two parts cot- 

 ton seed meal, and one part wheat bran, together with what silage 

 and mixed hay they would eat. 



The names of the cows in each lot, together with their age, date 

 of calving and weights, are given below : 



NAME OF BREED, 



Lot No. 1. 



Glista Netherland, H. F. H. B. 32442. 



Gem Valentine, A. J. C. C. 57881. . . . 



Mollie, 15-16 Holstein 



Lot No. 2. 

 Mabel 2d, Jersey Holstein 



I^uby , f Holstein 



Sadie, 15-16 Holstein 



Loss. 



50 



98 

 81 



70 



178 



21 



