3 68 



NUTRITION OF FARM ANIMALS 



The periods having been short in these experiments, the gain in 

 live weight cannot be satisfactorily determined, but on the basis of 

 Lawes and Gilbert's determinations of the composition of the increase 

 (442) it may be estimated to have been approximately one pound per 

 day. 



Loges l reports the results of experiments undertaken at Pomritz 

 to test Kellner's conclusions, in which a nutritive ratio of i : 10.3 gave 

 as great gains in weight with mature cattle as one of i : 5.7, but the 

 absolute amounts of protein consumed are not stated in the abstract. 



Apparently from 0.75 to i Ib. of digestible protein per 1000 

 pounds live weight is sufficient to meet the requirements of fully 

 mature fattening cattle. 



Swine. Such experiments on the fattening of mature swine as 

 are on record show that these animals, like cattle and sheep, need at 

 most but a comparatively small surplus of protein over the amount 

 necessary for maintenance. 



The respiration experiments by Meissl, Strohmer and Lorenz upon 

 the sources of fat by swine (443) afford a general illustration of this. 

 The following table shows the digestible protein and the metaboliz- 

 able energy of the feed and the gain of energy by the animal. No 

 distinct superiority of the high protein ration of Experiment IV over 

 the low protein rations of Experiments I and III appears, while the 

 greatest gain was realized in Experiment II with a moderate protein 

 supply but relatively high energy content. 



TABLE 77. INFLUENCE OF PROTEIN SUPPLY ON GAIN BY MATURE FAT- 

 TENING SWINE 



Soxhlet, in his experiments on the same subject (442) , fed two swine 

 1 6 months old and weighing about 200 pounds each at the beginning 



1 Centbl. Agr. Chem., 31 (1902), 646. 



