44 



FEEDING VALUE OF CEREALS. 



TABLE XXXVI. Wheat group digestible nutrients. 

 [Pounds per hundred pounds of dry matter.] 



TABLE XXXVII. Maize group digestible nutrients. 

 [Pounds per hundred pounds of dry matter.] 



OAT GROUP. 



In the oat group, as was stated in the introduction, are found 

 those grains which, being high in protein and high in crude fiber, 

 are low in carbohydrate and possess a relatively lower production 

 value and a narrow nutritive ratio. The production value alone 

 can not, however, be taken as a basis for judgment of the value of 

 these grains as feeds. 



It is due to the large amount of crude fiber that the amount of 

 digestible carbohydrate is low, thus lowering the production value. 

 At the same time, however, this low carbohydrate makes the relative 

 amount of protein to carbohydrate high, and the grains are char- 

 acterized as high protein, energy-producing foods rather than heat- 

 producing like those rich in carbohydrate. 



The value, therefore, of the oat class of cereals is that they possess 

 high protein and a narrow nutritive ratio. With the less common 

 grains, emmer and einkorn, it is seen that while the protein in emmer 

 is somewhat lower, the production value and nutritive ratio are 

 nearly the same as that of oats. Einkorn, owing to higher crude 

 fiber, falls below the other two in production value and nutritive 

 ratio. It is plain, however, that both of these grains belong in 

 the oat class rather than in the wheat class. While in fat content 

 they resemble wheat and not oats, and in protein content they 

 could be classed with either, as this factor alone is almost the same 

 in the two classes, the large amount of crude fiber, with its resulting 

 effect upon production value and nutritive ratio, places them defi- 



