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THE INFLUENCE OF PALM KERNEL CAKE UPON 

 THE COMPOSITION OF MILK-FAT. 



By CHARLES CROWTHER and HILDA WOODHOUSE. 



{Institute for Research in Animal Nutrition, 

 The University, Leeds.) 



The experiment described in the present communication was 

 carried out at the Manor Farm, Garforth, during the summer of 1916, 

 with the object of obtaining information as to the nature of any changes 

 in the composition of milk-fat that might be effected by the feeding of 

 palm kernel cake to cows. 



Two cows each yielding 2 to 3 gallons of milk per day were selected for 

 the purpose in May, and for two or three weeks prior to the commence- 

 ment of the experiment were out at pasture day and night without any 

 supplementary allowance of cake or other food. The experiment was 

 divided into three periods of three weeks each, with two transitional 

 periods of one week each. The way in which these periods were 

 utihsed will be clear from the appended schedule : 



Period Nature of Feeding 



I. (June 4 — 24) ... ... ... Grass alone 



1st transitional (June 25 — July 1) ...■^ Grass -I- 2 lb. Palm Kernel Cake 



IT. (July 2—22) 



2nd transitional (July 23 — 29) ... Grass alone 



III. (July 30— Aug. 19) 



It will be seen that the pasturage without cake was continued for 

 the first three weeks, then the supplementary cake allowance introduced 

 and continued for four weeks, after which simple pasturage was reverted 

 to for the remaining four weeks. The feeding in Periods I and III 

 thus being the same, a comparison of the records for these periods 

 indicates the direction and extent of changes due to the combined effects 

 of advance of lactation and variation in quality of pasture. In each of 

 these periods of four weeks, the first week is treated as transitional. 



It was intended to give a higher allowance of cake, but the cows, 

 presumably on account of the abundant pasturage, could not be induced 

 to eat regularly more than 2 lb. per day. 



In each week, with the exception of the first week of Period I, samples 



Journ. of Agric. Sci. viii 30 



