25 



Randomly selected groups, after laying had been well established, were fed 

 mashes containing pilchard and starfish meals, as in Series 1, for 2 months, ki 

 the end of this period, the group that had been receiving the mash containing 

 pilchard meal was shifted to that containing starfish meal, and vice versa . Egg 

 records were then kept for a second 2-month period. In this way, the individual 

 differences in egg weight and productivity characteristics of the hens in each group 

 were made to apply to each diet for a like period. The individual records of 

 these hens are shown in Table U, and the results are summarized in Table 5. 



Table 5 - Summary of Data for laying Test 

 GR UP I 



Series II 



Item 



Total no. eggs 

 Total egg weight, kg. 

 Average egg weight, gm. 

 Productivity 



Feeding Period 



First 



Pilchard meal 



Second 



Starfish meal 



GROUP II 



Feeding, 



First 



Starfish meal 



Period, 



Second 



Pilchard meal 



252 

 2.22 



53.1 



>8.8 



210 

 1.92 



211 



1.63 

 51.2 



5M 



20d 

 l.M 

 54.0 



57,3 



As was expected, there are considerable variations for both individual hens 

 and groups. Those hens originally allotted to the group fed the pilchard meal 

 diet produced both larger eggs and more eggs per hen than the group originally 

 fed the starfish meal diet. After the shift at the end of 2 months, this group 

 still produced more and larger eggs on the starfish meal diet , but the magnitude 

 of the difference was reduced due to the slightly greater nutritive value of the 

 pilchard meal protein. During the second period, there was a decrease for both 

 groups in the number of eggs laid, but an appreciable increase in egg weight, both 

 factors being related to the increased age of the hens. As a combined result of 

 both factors, the total weight of the eggs was almost the same in both periods. 

 Small net differences remained in favor of the group fed the diet containing pil- 

 chard meal, both as to number of eggs laid and mean egg weight. The total dif- 

 ferences amounted to 35 eggs, and 0.9 gram per egg. The hens receiving starfish 

 meal laid 7.7 percent fewer eggs and the eggs laid were 1.67 percent smaller than 

 those laid by the group fed pilchard meal. The mean productivity was 57.6 for the 

 group fed starfish meal or 7.2 percent less than that of the control group which 

 had a productivity of 62.1. 



The data indicate that pilchard meal has a slightly greater stimulating ef- 

 fect than starfish meal on the rate of egg production. The size of eggs laid is 

 almost unaffected by the source of protein in the diet, this factor being apparent- 

 ly hereditary and little influenced by changes in diet. For practical purposes, 

 starfish meal can be rated as a very good source of protein for laying hens, sup- 

 plying, in addition, all of the calcium needed for shell formation. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Starfish meal has been fed to newly-hatched chicks at levels varying from 

 3 to 32 percent of the diet. The starfish meal is only slightly less effective 

 when fed at the lower levels as a source of protein for growth of chicks than is 

 a high-grade pilchard meal. Intermediate levels of starfish had a retarding ef- 

 fect on growth. This effect is thought to be primarily due to the presence of a 

 thiamine-destructive enzyme in meal dried at a low temperature. The excess calcium 

 and unbalanced ratio of calcium to phosphorus may be secondary factors affecting 

 growth, particularly with diets containing more than 10 to 12 percent starfish 

 meal. 



