384 U. S. BUEEAU OF FISHERIES 



sufficient vitamin D to prevent rickets in chicks for at least 8 weeks. 

 Fish meal. hoAvever, did not produce as much cjrowth as the cod- 

 liver oil or the cod-liver meal. Cod-liver oil and cod-liver meal were 

 about equal in jj^rowth promotion. Two per cent of cod-liver oil 

 was fed to one <2:roup, 2 per cent of cod-liver meal to the second 

 group, and 5 per cent of fish meal to the third <rroup. Otherwise, 

 the rations were the same for each group and only water was allowed 

 for drinking. 



Titus, McXally, and Hilberg (1930), in growth studies with 

 chicks, fed fish meals with good results. A specially prepared 

 desiccated meat meal was used as a basis of comparison. This meat 

 meal can not be obtained commercially and is not in any sense of the 

 word a commercial i)roduct; therefore, any direct comparison be- 

 tween the marine products and this special meat meal, which is 

 prepared from condemned carcasses, would be of no value to either 

 the agricultural or the fisheiy industries. 



The diets were the same except that 10 per cent North Atlantic 

 white fish meal, 10 per cent menhaden fish meal, and 10 pev cent 

 shrimp meal were fed comparatively in the respective diets. The 

 diets containing the two fish meals were about equal in efficiency 

 and the diet containing the shrimp meal did not produce quite as 

 good results as the fish meals. The Jtuthors stated that the protein 

 of the menhaden fish meal was of better quality than that of the 

 North Atlantic white fish meal, and the protein of the shrimp meal 

 was poorer in quality than that of the menhaden fish meal. 



George H. Conn (1930) said : 



Fish meal has been Inrfi^ely used in the past for feeding poultry, and it is 

 quite lilvely that it will have its j^reatest use in the future for this purpose. 

 It is now fed in quite Invpe quantities to hogs, Init hogs can be supplied with 

 protein in a very satisfactory form in tanlvage or milk, or in many of the 

 legumes that are grown on the average farm. 



Some recent statements have been made to the effect that while fish meal 

 is very satisfact(U'y in the ration for poultry it should not at any time con- 

 stitute more than one-twentieth of the whole diet in the case of chickens, 

 which means that it should not exceed more than one-twentieth of the total 

 weight of mash and grain consumed by adult birds, and not more than one- 

 tenth of the total feed of young growing birds. It is reported that the meal 

 can be fed in slightly larger quantities to ducks than it can to chickens. 



For feeding poultry, fish meal will largely replace meat scraps or tankage. 

 In the eastern part of the United States and particularly in the New England 

 States large quantities are now being used for this purpose. Because it has 

 a higher digestibility, especially as far as the protein content is concerned, 

 and because it carries a somewhat higher content of bone, sulphate, and lime, 

 it is slightly superior to tankage or meat scraps as a poultry feed. 



Crawford and Nizam (1929) found that salmon meal was the best 

 of the commercially prepared fish meals fed to fish and that herring 

 meal was almost as good. 



Davis and Lord (1930) reported that fish meals may be success- 

 fully incor])orated in trout rations provided some fresh meat is 

 included in the mixture. 



FUR-BEARING ANIMALS 



Feeding experiments indicate that marine products offer possi- 

 bilities of profitable returns in the feeding of fur-bearing animals 



