DIGESTION EXPERIMENTS WITH SHEEP. 



331 



In Period 17, first crop, Sheep XII. digested the material rather better 

 than Sheep XIII. 



In Period 1 the green material, second crop, scarcely in head, was cut 

 and fed in September. At the same time, some of it was made into hay 

 and fed later. The total dry matter of the hay was over 4 per cent, less 

 digestible than the same material fed green. Strange to say, the fiber 

 showed a somewhat higher digestibility in the hay, while the extract 

 matter was noticeably less digestible. As might have been expected, 

 the fat (ether extract) showed a lower digestibility in the hay, due probably 

 to the fact that the sheep were able more thoroughly to extract such sub- 

 stances out of the green plant. For some reason the sheep digested the 

 second crop (green) less fully than they did the first. The latter was cut 

 in 1917, and the former in September, 1916. Whether the lessened 

 digestibility was due to the climatic variations prevailing in two different 

 years, or because a second growiih was actually not as digestible as the 

 first, it is not possible to say. The average of the coefficients of the two 

 lots of green Sudan grass follows, together with green barnyard millet, 

 sorghum and com for comparison. 



The above comparison indicates that Sudan grass in digestibility is 

 fully equal to other important green feeds. 



Summary of Coefficients of Sudan Hay. 



