Mar. 4, 1918 Digestion of Starch by the Young Calf 577 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 



Two male calves, each 4 days old, were selected. Each was fed 

 5.44 kgm. of whole milk a day in two feedings. Beginning at 4 days of 

 age, each calf received 40 gm. of ordinary cornstarch per feeding, in 

 addition to the milk, for a period of three days. The starch ration was 

 prepared as follows: The weighed quantity of cornstarch was placed 

 in a pail and mixed with a little milk, then the bulk of the milk was 

 added and the mixture well stirred. The calf consumed the mixture 

 with eagerness and without any apparent digestive disturbance. To 

 make sure that all the starch was consumfd, the pail was rinsed once 

 or twice with milk and the calf permitted to drink the rinsings. The 

 starch-feeding period was followed by a rest period of about five days, 

 during which only whole milk was fed; then the calves again received 

 starch in addition to their whole-milk ration exactly as in their first 

 3-day period. The length of the periods and the duration of the 



Fig. I.— Bag for receiving feces and harness for supporting it. 



experiment are shown in Table I. The cornstarch fed to calf i con- 

 tained, according to analysis, 77.02 per cent of pure starch, and that 

 fed calf 2, 76.32 per cent. The feces were received in a closely fitting 

 rubber bag supported by a harness as shown in figure i. Collections 

 were made during the three starch-feeding days and the three days 

 following. The feces were removed from the bag each day and imme- 

 diately dried on the premises in an electric oven at about the temperature 

 of boiling water. The dried feces, representing a starch-feeding period 

 and the three subsequent days, were united and ground in a mill. The 

 analyses were made according to the methods adopted by the Association 

 of Official Agricultural Chemists, the malt-diastase method being selected 

 for the starch determinations. 



The feeding was conducted at the Bureau of Animal Industry's Ex- 

 periment Farm, Beltsville, Md., and the analytical work was done at 

 the Dairy Division laboratories in Washington. The results are given 

 in Tables I and II. 



