NUTRIENTS 



191 



Water and ash are the inorganic nutrients; protein, carbo- 

 hydrates and fats are the organic elements. For convenience 

 carbohydrates and fats are sometimes grouped together. They 

 contain the same compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, 

 only in different proportions. The one great difference is that 

 the fats have a greater power than the carbohydrates, being 

 rated at two and a quarter times the power of carbohydrates. 



Carbohydrates include the starches, sugars and gums, and 

 like fats, they are burned to produce heat and energy. Carbo- 

 hydrates as found in plants or grains are stored in a structure 



of cellulose, which con- 



stitutes the framework 

 of the plant or the kernel 

 of the grain. This frame- 

 work or fibrous sub- 

 stance is mostly indi- 

 gestible, and in livestock 

 feeding, especially poul- 

 try feeding, it is spoken 

 of as crude fiber. The 

 digestible portions of the 

 carbohydrates are called 

 collectively Nitrogen- 

 Free Extract. 



Avoid Fiber. — The 

 poultryman aims to feed materials which have the greatest 

 quantity of nitrogen-free extract, with the least amount of crude 

 fiber, since fiber is not only indigestible, but it is voided and 

 therefore of no food value. 



Protein nutrients are by far the most expensive portion of the 

 fowl's diet. See Table IX. As a matter of fact, protein usually 

 forms the basis upon which prices of feeds are determined. 

 Wheat and its by-products rank first in popularity as sources of 

 vegetable protein. Beef scrap, green cut bone and fish scrap are 

 the most common sources of animal protein. Fowls require 



{Courtesy Cornell Experiment Station) 



Fig. 129. — Where fowls are grown in large 

 numbers on free range it is economy to tend 

 the houses with a team, preferably a low- 

 wheeled truck, containing water-barrel, feed 

 and so on. 



