Digestion, Respiration and Calorimetry. 



27 



contents weighed and sampled for analysis. Feeding progressed 

 six days before the experiment began, in order that all residues 

 of previous feed might have passed from the alimentary tract. 

 During the first period each sheep was fed 700 giams (about 1.5 

 pounds) of clover hay daily, this allowance being consumed 

 without waste. "Water was freely supplied. The average amount 

 and composition of the food eaten, and the solid excrement 

 voided daily, are summarized in the following table: 



Digestion trial with sheep fed clover hay, average for one day — 

 Wisconsin Station. 



The table shows that in the 700 grams of hay fed there were 

 586.1 grams of dry matter, and in the solid excrement for one 

 day, 288.6 grams, leaving a difference of 297.5 grams, or 50.8 per 

 cent., which is held to be the amount of dry matter digested for 

 the first period of the first trial. The average for two trials was 

 51.2 per cent. Of the 77.7 grams of protein supplied in the 

 ration, 40.4 grams appeared in the solid excrement. The differ- 

 ence, 37.3 grams, or 48 per cent., represents the amount of pro- 

 tein which must have been digested and taken into the body of 

 the sheep from the alimentary tract. In the same manner the 

 percentage of the other nutrients digested was determined. The 

 average percentage of each nutrient digested in a given feeding 

 stuff is termed the " coefficient of digestibility," for that nutrient 

 and feed. 



48. Digestibility of malt sprouts. — Having ascertained the 

 digestibility of clover hay, A rmsby added to the ration an allow- 

 ance of malt sprouts. The sheep remained in the stanchions as 

 before, and were fed 600 grams of clover hay and 175 grams of 



