6i6 



Journal of Agricultural Research 



Vol. XIII. No. 12 



TabI/H IX. — Average velvet-bean meal digestion coefficients by difference wheti alfalfa- 

 hay and corn-silage coefficients are based on feeding-alone experiments 



Table X. — Average alfalfa-hay digestion coefficients by difference when velvet-bean m,eal 

 and corn-silage coefficients are based on feeding-alone experiments 



Reference to the tables show that, as a general proposition, the digesti- 

 bility of a feed is greatest when fed alone, next greatest when fed in 

 combination with one other feed, and least when fed in combination with 

 the two other feeds. In this connection, however, the apparent loss in 

 digestibility is not necessarily all attributable to the combination, for the 

 total dry matter consumed in the rations containing two feeds was 

 greater than in the rations containing one feed, and the total dry matter 

 of the rations made up of three feeds was greater than the rations con- 

 taining two feeds. Thus, the quantity of the feed in the larger rations 

 probably had a depressing effect on digestibility. Kellner ^ cites his 

 own experiments with steers fed mixed rations which show an apparent 

 decrease in digestibility with an increasing quantity of feed, and Armsby 

 and Fries ^ state that their results seem to — 



indicate clearly a real, although slight, effect of increasing quantity in diminishing 

 the percentage digestibility. 



Our results have shown the same slight decline, but it is not probable 

 that the total decline in digestion coefficients obtained with three feeds 

 compared with two, and with two feeds compared with one, is accounted 



• Kellner, Oskar. die ernahrung der landwirtschaftlichen ntjtztierE. Aufl. 6, p. 48. Berlin, 

 1912. 



2 Armsby, H. P., and Fries, J. A. the influence of type and of age upon the utllization of feed 

 BY cattle. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Anim. Indus. Bui. 128, p. 28. 191 1. 



