Vol. XIV Washington, D. C., July 15, 1918 No. 3 
MINERAL CONTENT OF SOUTHERN POULTRY FEEDS 
AND MINERAL REQUIREMENTS OF GROWING FOWLS 
By B. F. Kaupp 
Poultry Investigator and Pathologist , North Carolina Agricutural Experiment Station 
INTRODUCTION 
The mineral subtances which enter into Hie composition of fowls con¬ 
stitute the ash. These ash constituents stand in a peculiar and inter¬ 
esting relation to the living structures and life processes of animals. 
Through experimentation the physiologist has determined the effects 
of many of the minerals upon function and secretion. Minerals are also 
essential to the construction of the body tissues of the fowl. In this 
field the soil chemist, the agronomist, the poultryman, the physiologist, 
and the farmer all find a common interest, for the mineral substances 
required by fowls come from the soil through the plant to the bird. The 
force feeding of our fowls, both for growth into broilers and for egg pro¬ 
duction by mature hens, calls for a higher percentage of mineral nutrients 
in feedstuffs than was necessary under the old system of less intense pro¬ 
duction. Since it is so essential that fowls be supplied with sufficient 
amounts of each mineral element, studies should be conducted to deter¬ 
mine whether any of our poultry feeds are deficient and, if so, how the 
deficiency may be remedied. It may not be possible to exercise a se¬ 
lective choice of feeds which provide an abundance of the various min¬ 
erals required for rapidity or efficiency in the production of growth or 
eggs. The present paper deals only with experiments on minerals re¬ 
quired in broiler production. 
THE PROBLEM 
Profitable broiler production begins with the baby chick and extends 
over a period of about eight weeks, at the end of which time the birds 
should weigh, as a flock, approximately pounds each. 
Our problem consisted, therefore, in ascertaining (i) the amount of 
mineral per unit in the bodies of the baby chick and of the iX-pound 
broiler; (2) the mineral content of the southern poultry feeds; (3) a proper 
feed mixture from the standpoint of protein, carbohydrate, and fat; 
(4) the mineral content of this mixture; and (5) by feeding, whether the 
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Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
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Vol. XIV, No. 3 
July is, 1918 
Key No. N. C.-n 
