AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE 63 



Metabolism of the Horse 



Work was again resumed during the year on the study of fatigue and 

 rate of recovery after exercise (brisk trotting) as a test of relative physical 

 fitness and endurance of the horse. This work was conducted on an 0.85 

 mile stretch of flat country road. The factors studied were (1) effect of 

 temperature and wind conditions on oxygen consumption, and (2) the 

 effect of enriching the fresh air intake by additional oxygen from a contain- 

 er. Rate of recovery was determined by measuring the oxygen consump- 

 tion at five-minute intervals after exercise. Five experiments were carried 

 out with a Percheron draft gelding and one with a purebred Morgan 

 stallion. 



Oxygen consumption during a brisk trot, and particularly during re- 

 covery following exercise, is a more dependable and accurate index of 

 "staying power" than is pulse rate. Oxygen consumption during exercise 

 was not measurably affected by environmental temperature differences of 

 15° and 21 °C. It increased per minute with increase in rate of speed, and 

 the oxygen debt increased fourfold when speed per mile was increased 

 from 5.1 to 4.4 minutes. Enriching the air during exercise with oxygen 

 from a container reduced the time required for recovery without extra 

 oxygen to five minutes as against 15 and 20 minutes when the air was not 

 enriched. 



Practical deductions relating to judgment of relative performance 

 (stamina) and also to feeding and management from such data are ob- 

 viously in prospect, although the work has not progressed with sufficient 

 numbers of animals as yet to arrive at final conclusions. 



E. G. RiTZMAN. N. F. CoLovos. A. D. Littlehale 



STATE SERVICE 



In addition to the active research projects, many Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station workers devote much time to performing a direct service to 

 the people of the state. The numerous inquiries received by the adminis- 

 tration and distributed to the respective specialists must receive immediate 

 attention. Such inquiries have been particularly numerous during the 

 present war period. Below is a summary of the major services (excluding 

 correspondence) which were carried on during the fiscal year 1943-44. 



Inspection of Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs, and Soil Testing 



In accordance with the public statues regulating the sale of commer- 

 cial fertilizers and of concentrated commercial feedingstuffs, 67 brands of 

 fertilizers and 405 brands of feedingstuffs were analyzed during the year 

 1943-44. These analyses involved individual determinations totaling 458 

 and 3175 respectively^ In connection with the feedingstuffs inspection a 

 considerable amount of work has been done in collaboration with the Asso- 

 ciation of American Feed Control Officials on the development of analytic- 

 al methods for the determination of carotene, riboflavin, and fluorine. 



Also, miscellaneous samples of feedingstuffs. fertilizers, and other ma- 

 terials have been analyzed for residents of New Hampshire. During 1943- 

 44, there were 90 samples involving about 225 determinations. 



