DIGESTION OF THE FOOD 31 



Results of availability determinations made with 

 domestic animals are to be found in Table II of the 

 Appendix. 



(4) The extent of digestion under various 

 conditions. 



[a) The influence of the nature of the animal 

 upon the digestion of the food. 



1. Animals of different species do not always 

 digest the same quantity of any given food. The 

 greatest digestive power is undoubtedly possessed 

 by the ruminants, oxen being somewhat better 

 than sheep as regards the digestion of straw or 

 coarse hay. With medium quality hay these 

 differences are less marked, and with other foods 

 the digestive power of the ox and the sheep seems 

 to be about equal. 



Compared to the ruminants the horse has a some- 

 what inferior digestive power, as is seen from 

 Table II of Appendix. Investigations carried out 

 on this point have shown that the horse digests 

 almost the same amount of crude protein from the 

 various food-stuffs as do the ruminants. It is in 

 the crude fibre and crude fat that the greatest 

 differences are seen, and in a less measure in the 

 nitrogen-free extract. In the case of such a diffi- 

 cultly digestible material as straw, the peculiarity 

 of the horse as compared to a ruminant is clearly 

 shown, for the former utilises only about half of 



