RELATIVE VALUES OF FEEDING STUFFS 627 



other ruminants and with other feeding stuffs are lacking, but 

 it does not appear surprising that a ruminant should digest 

 whole grain more completely than a non-ruminant. As a 

 whole, the results upon the influence of grinding on digestibility 

 are comparatively meager and in particular they afford no in- 

 formation as to the effect of variations in the amount fed upon 

 the relative digestibility of whole grain and of coarse or fine 

 meal. 



732. Acids. The extensive use of silage lends interest to 

 the question of the influence of acids on the digestibility of 

 feeding stuffs. 



Weiske 1 compared the digestibility of meadow hay with and 

 without the addition of sulphuric acid (0.75 per cent SOs) by one 

 sheep, using two periods on each ration, and obtained almost 

 absolutely identical results, with the exception of a slight in- 

 crease in digestibility of the ash and ether extract of the acidified 

 hay. Kellner 2 added a much larger proportion of lactic acid 

 (2.67 per cent) to a ration of hay and maize fed to a sheep and 

 likewise observed practically no effect on the digestibility. 



Apparently, then, such amounts of organic acids as are or- 

 dinarily consumed in silage and other feeds are without effect 

 on digestion in the case of ruminants and this conclusion is to 

 a certain extent supported by the general results of experiments 

 which have shown that ensiled forage is fully as digestible as 

 the same material carefully dried. The amounts of acid con- 

 sumed under normal conditions are after all not large as com- 

 pared with the quantities produced in the rumen and neutral- 

 ized by the saliva. That excessive amounts of acids may 

 stimulate peristalsis and so produce scouring is doubtless true, 

 and it may be presumed that other species, such as the horse, 

 for example, may be more sensitive to acids than ruminants. 



733. Condiments. One of the exaggerated claims made 

 for the various proprietary condimental feeds is that they are 

 able to increase materially the digestibility of rations to which 

 they are added. Not the slightest scientific basis for this claim 

 exists. All experimenters agree that they are without influence 

 in this respect. Recent investigations by Fingerling, 3 for ex- 

 ample, in which fennel, anise, fenugreek and malt sprouts were 



1 Jour. Landw., 33 (1885), 21. 2 Ernahrung landw. Nutztiere, 6th Ed., p. 56. 

 3 Landw. Vers. Stat., 62 (1905), 41-57. 



