220 



Concentrated Feeding-stuffs. 



[JUNE, 



albuminoids contained in different foodstuffs. There is some 

 reason to believe, however, that marked differences may occur 

 when individual foodstuffs are fed separately, but that these 

 differences will tend to disappear when the foodstuffs, as 

 commonly happens, are blended together in a mixed ration. 



Of the foodstuffs commonly used in this country the richest 

 in albuminoids are soy bean meals and cakes and decorticated 

 cotton-seed meals and cakes, these containing usually 

 upwards of 40 per cent, of albuminoids. Next in order of 

 richness come soy beans (35-37 per cent.) and linseed cake 

 and meal (28-32 per cent.), whilst beans, peas, dried grains, 

 and malt dust all contain 20 per cent, or more. 



Amides. — The amides, although containing nitrogen, are 

 greatly inferior in feeding value to albuminoids. According 

 to the evidence now available, they seem to have little or no 

 direct value for the production of lean flesh or fat in the case 

 of horses and pigs. In the case of ruminant animals (cattle, 

 sheep, goats), however, certain amides or mixtures of amides 

 can, to some extent, perform this function of albuminoids. 

 In no case, however, has it been found possible to replace 

 the albuminoids of the food completely by amides. 



In all animals amides act as heat-producers, and therefore 

 in this respect serve the same purpose in the body as the 

 carbohydrates. In heat-producing capacity, however, the 

 amides, weight for weight, possess only about half the value 

 of carbohydrates. 



Amides occur chiefly in immature or watery foods, such 

 as voung grass and roots ; they are present in trifling quan- 

 tities only in cereal grains, oil cakes, and other concentrated 

 feeding-stuffs, with the exception of malt culms and molasses, 

 so that, in the present connection, they may be left out of 

 consideration. 



Soluble Carbohydrates. — The most important soluble 

 carbohydrates are starch, sugar, and mucilage. Carbo- 

 hydrates abound in all foods and comprise the bulk of the 

 feeding material in cereal grains, locust beans, molasses, hay, 

 straw, and roots. In these foods they must be looked upon 

 as the chief ingredients of value. In oil cakes, pulse grains, 

 dried grains, and malt dust, on the other hand, the feeding 

 value is derived to a large extent from albuminoids and fats. 



