MAINE AGRICUI^TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 281 



considerable attention has been given to this matter of supplying 

 green and succulent food to poultry, and as a result of experi- 

 ence extending now over a number of years a very satisfactory 

 scheme of supplying this necessary part of the ration has been 

 worked out. 



It is, of course, obvious that if it is to be satisfactory not 

 only must the green food given to poultry be of the proper kind 

 to give good results in egg production, but also it must be some- 

 thing which can be produced and handled at small cost. Fur- 

 thermore a factor which is frequently lost sight of here is that 

 fowls need something besides succulence in their so-called "green 

 food." There is a distinction between a succulent fodder and a 

 "green food" in the strict sense. One can supply succulence 

 in the form of root crops like mangolds or other similar crops. 

 A careful examination of the situaton, however, indicates that 

 probably the fundamental need of the fowls is not for succu- 

 lence as such, but rather for the tonic effect which is produced 

 by green plants. The green color of plants is due to the pres- 

 ence of cholorophyll, a chemical compound which is very rich 

 in iron. In feeding fowls for high egg production it is neces- 

 sary that they be given a ration rich in protein. Only birds of 

 very strong constitution and with thoroughly sound digestive 

 systems can continuously handle for a long period the heavy 

 laying rations carrying meat scrap and oil meal, which are now 

 so widely used by poultrymen, with successful results for egg 

 production. On these heavy rations there is always a tendency 

 for the bird's liver first to become impaired in function and ulti- 

 mately to become enlarged and diseased. As the matter has 

 been studied at the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station it 

 would appear that one of the chief, if not indeed the most 

 important functions of green food in the ration is to counteract 

 this tendency of the digestive system, and especially the liver, 

 to break down under the strain of assim.ilating heavy laying 

 rations over a long period of time. It would appear that the 

 green food given to poultry acts primarily as a mild tonic rather 

 than as a food in the proper sense. There is very little of this 

 tonic effect produced from succulent non-green foods like man- 

 golds. For this dependence must be placed primarily upon 

 cholorophyll bearing plants. 



