CHAPTER VI 



THE COMPOUNDS OF ANIMAL NUTRITION, 



CONCLUDED CARBOHYDRATES, ACIDS, 



FATS, AND OILS 



MUCH the larger proportion of the dry matter of cattle 

 foods consists of non-nitrogenous material. While these 

 nitrogen-free compounds have not been regarded as 

 fundamentally so important as are the proteins, in quan- 

 tity they unquestionably occupy the first rank. The 

 activities of plant life are largely devoted to their pro- 

 duction, and their use by animal life is correspondingly 

 extensive. They may properly be called the main fuel- 

 supply of the animal world. Other nutrients aid in main- 

 taining muscular activity, to be sure, but these compounds 

 are the principal storehouse of that sun-derived energy 

 which furnishes the motive power exhibited in all animal 

 life. They also fill a necessary office in the formation of 

 milk and in the fattening of animals. This class of com- 

 pounds greatly predominates in the usual farm crops, 

 even in those of the legume family. 



87. Elementary composition of the non-nitrogenous 

 compounds. The non-nitrogenous compounds contain 

 only three elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 

 They may be derived, therefore, wholly from air and 

 water, and they constitute that portion of foods which is 

 drawn from never-failing and costless sources of supply. 

 The elementary composition of typical nitrogen-free 

 bodies is given in this connection: 



(68) 



