THE DIGESTIBILITY OP MILLETS. 9 



A small quantity of decorticated millet was tested as to culinary 

 quality, and when boiled the mush was found to be of pleasing 

 flavor. The available quantity was not sufficient for a study of its 

 digestibility. 



In discussing the results of experiments with man too much weight 

 should not be given to those obtained with ruminants, but it is not 

 without interest to note that the millet proteins are not as well uti- 

 lized by the animal body as the proteins of the more common cereals, 

 as indicated by the experiment of Shepard and Koch.^ Sheep were 

 fed unground grains in connection with a roughage, and it was found 

 that of two varieties of millets the protein was 70 per cent and 55 

 per cent utilized, while in the case of oats 77 per cent and of corn 

 78 per cent was utilized by the same sheep under like experimental 

 conditions. 



As regards the carbohydrates of millet and proso, it was found in 

 the experiments here reported that this constituent was as well 

 utilized by the subjects as in the case of the more common cereals, the 

 coefficients of digestibility being 95.7 per cent for millet and 96.2 per 

 cent for proso. 



In general, therefore, it seems fair to conclude from the data re- 

 ported that while the millets would contributesomewhat to the protein 

 of the diet, they would be decidedly more important as a source of 

 carbohydrates than of protein. In this they resemble such grains as 

 the sorghums more closely than they do wheat or rye, which are 

 important sources of both protein and carbohydrates. 



1 South Dakota Sta. Bui, 

 fodders for South Dakota. 



114 (1909), p. 553. Digestion coeffleients of grains and 



