FISH MEAL IN ANIMAL FEEDING 393 



appearance of goiter in the offspring. Fed to dairy cattle It will increase the 

 iodine content of milk so as to assure sufficient supplies of iodine to the con- 

 sumers of that milk. 



Manning (1929a and 1929d) attributed the excellent egg pro- 

 duction records, resulting from feeding crab meal to poultry, to the 

 quantity and variety of mineral constituents contained in the crab 

 meal. Tlie liigh percentages of calcium carbonate and calcium phos- 

 phate found in crab meal, and undoubtedly in a readily assimilable 

 form, should be particularly beneficial in stimulating egfr, production 

 and in producing a good shell texture. The relatively high content 

 of iodine in crab meal should also stimulate G^ig production. Doctor 

 Orr, whose excellent work has been mentioned so many times in this 

 publication, has said that hens need lime and iodine for optimum egg 

 production. 



Hoard's Dairj^man (1925) has quoted Doctor Cavanaugh as hav- 

 ing said that he thought that the large gains in weight and height 

 obtained by feeding 1-year-old heifer calves fish meal was due to- 

 the finely ground bones of the fish, which furnished " the bone- 

 making lime and phosphoric acid in exactly right proportions." 



In feeding fish meal to swine. Manning (1930) believed that the 

 favorable results obtained were due, '' not only to the high coefficient 

 of digestibility of the protein contained in the fish meal, but due also' 

 to a certain amount of vitamin potency and a distribution of min- 

 erals in variety and proportion amply provided for by nature." 



According to the Rowett Institute (1922) fish meal is an excellent 

 source of mineral for the growing pig. In digestibility tests with, 

 a young pig, fish meal feeding increased the retention of lime (CaO) 

 from to 4.7 grams per day, and of phosphate (P0O3) from 3.4 to- 

 8.4 grams. It was further stated that fish meal contained " good 

 protein and well balanced mineral matter." 



Orr and Husband (1922) said that "the ratio of lime to phos- 

 phorus in fish meal is not unlike that in sow's or cow's milk. The 

 percentages, however, are so high that comparatively small amounts 

 of this meal added to a ration yield a sufficient supply of these." 



Haselhoff (1914) reported that calcium phosphate in fish meal is 

 a valuable adjunct to the rations of farm animals. 



To illustrate the importance of minerals in animal nutrition, Orr 

 and Husband (1922) are quoted as follows: 



There is probably no subject in nutrition on which information is more 

 needed than the mineral requirements of animals, and the best combination 

 of foodstuffs to provide a ration with properly balanced minerals. Further 

 knowledge would enable us to get more rapid gains in weight and a more 

 economical use of feeding-stuffs, and would also probably throw light on many 

 conditions of malnutrition whose causes are at present obscure, 



VITAMINS IN FISH MEALS 



Bohstedt (1923) reported that the results of a series of tests with 

 rats have indicated that fish meal, tankage, and blood meal are de- 

 ficient in both vitamins A and B, when fed as 1, 4, and 8 per cent 

 respectively, of the ration. 



According to Green and Richardson (1924), fish meal fed in com- 

 parison with corn meal to young pigs not only produced greater 

 gains in weight on less feed consumed, but cured lameness in the 

 control lot and prevented lameness in the fish meal lot. 



