Nov. 13, 1916 
Vegetable-Ivory Meal 
3i9 
CONCLUSIONS 
(I) Analyses show vegetable ivory to be carbohydrate in nature, 
containing about 5 per cent of protein and 75 per cent of nitrogen-free 
extract. Fat and mineral matter are negligible, while crude fiber averages 
7 per cent. 
(2.) Ninety-two and one-half per cent of the nitrogen-free extract is 
mannan, a polymer of mannose sugar. 
(3) Pentosans are present to the extent of 2.5 per cent. 
(4) Lignin, galactan, starch, and dextran are not found in vegetable 
ivory. 
(5) A nonnitrogenous “alcoholic precipitate” amounting to about 2.5 
per cent is present which is not pentose in nature. It differs from fruit 
“pectin” in that it does not form mucic acid and does not reduce copper. 
(6) By the use of Fehling’s solution about 0.5 per cent of water-soluble 
reducing material and 2 per cent of so-called total sugars are shown to be 
present after inversion with hydrochloric acid in the cold. 
(7) The mannan in vegetable ivory is not entirely hydrolyzed without 
at least 4 % hours' boiling in an acid solution. The characteristic “acid” 
color of the solution bleaches out at the completion of hydrolysis. 
(8) With continued acid boiling the use of Fehling's solution gives 
results which, when estimated as dextrose, agree closely with the per¬ 
centage of nitrogen-free extract minus the percentage “pectin” present. 
Otherwise stated, practically the entire nitrogen-free extract is accounted 
for in the form of a hexose sugar or its condensation product, except a 
small percentage of pentoses and pectin. 
(9) The energy equivalent of the material ranks well with other 
carbohydrate foods, and it possesses a fuel value equal to one-half that of 
soft coal. 
(10) Sheep ate vegetable-ivory meal readily when it was mixed with 
other grains and digested it very thoroughly. Eighty-four per cent of 
the dry matter and ninety-two per cent of the nitrogen-free extract were 
digested. 
(II) All the carbohydrates appeared to have been hydrolyzed and 
absorbed in the digestive tract. 
(12) Cows ate the material when mixed with other feed, without 
evidence of digestive disturbances. They refused to eat it if fed by 
itself. 
(13) When fed as an addition to a basal ration, the increase in milk 
was sufficient to indicate its positive value as a productive feed. 
(14) Though the methods of feeding necessarily followed were not 
such that exact relative values could be shown, it seems certain that 
vegetable-ivory meal does not fully equal com meal for milk production. 
