PRAIRIE FARMER'S POULTRY BOOK 



stances include the ash and the carbohydrates and the fats. 

 Water enters into the composition of all foods but not in 

 sufficient quantity to meet the demands of the animal body. 

 Crude fiber is the indigestible portion of the food and is 

 composed chiefly of cellulose. 



The following table will help to fix this analysis in the mind. 



rProtein 



Foods « 



Nitrogenous. . . . . „ 



Albumin. 



rWater ,^ Nutrient Carbohydrate, or Nitrogen-free 



1 Carbohydrate ... extract. 

 Non-nitrogenous < ^^t r 



LAsh J Crude Fiber (Cellulose) 



[Fat-soluble A 

 Vitamines -j Water-soluble B 



L Water-soluble C 



Protein. This is the most important solid constituent of the food. 

 It comprises 20 per cent of the fowl's body. It is necessary to the 

 production of living matter, to cell-multiplication and growth, and to 

 the formation of such tissues as blood, nerve and muscle. It occurs in 

 nearly all grain and animal feeds. Those feeds which contain a large 

 percentage of protein are called proteids. Illustrations are found in 

 tankage, meat scrap, fish scrap, oil meal, cottonseed meal and milk 

 products. 



Albumin. This is one of the proteids, but is given special considera- 

 tion on account of its peculiar properties and its prominence in the 

 tissues of the body, in the blood, and in the composition of the egg. 



Water. About SS per cent of the fowl's body is water. Every cell 

 of its organism cries out for water. Without water an animal soon 

 perishes. It comprises 66 per cent of the composition of an egg. 



Egg production ceases when the water supply is cut off. It con- 

 stitutes 87 per cent of the composition of milk, so that when milk is 

 fed liberally, as well as succulent green feed, the demand for water is 

 decreased. In the body it dissolves the food, aids in absorption, serves 

 as a carrier for the solid principles of the blood, makes the tissues soft 

 and pliable, and enters into some of the chemical changes which are 

 constantly going on. 



Carbohydrates. These foods supply heat and energy for the body 

 by oxidation, and the surplus is used in the production of fat. A carbo- 

 hydrate is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen 

 and oxygen are always in the proportion found in water, so that when 

 it is oxidized, the oxygen uniting with the carbon to produce carbonic 

 acid gas, water becomes the residue. Carbohydrates abound in all grains 

 and their by-products. In cold weather more carbohydrate is required 

 than in summer. It does not occur in the structures of the body but 

 is found in the blood as glucose, or as glycogen, and in the egg as 

 glucose. 



Crude fiber (cellulose) is a carbohydrate, but is insoluble, and, there- 

 fore, is indigestible. About 6 per cent of the dry mash may be crude 

 fiber. 



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