THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF WHEAT: I.—EFFECT OF 
VARIATION OF SODIUM IN A WHEAT RATION 1 
By George A. Olson, Head of Chemistry Division (resigned), and J. L. St. John, 
Head of Chemistry Division , Agricultural Experiment Station , State College of 
Washington 2 
INTRODUCTION 
The classical experiments conducted by the Wisconsin Experiment 
Station (11) with heifer calves restricted to a ration obtained entirely 
from the wheat plant and salt which resulted in rough-coated animals 
of small girth and rough in appearance as contrasted with heifers 
receiving a ration derived solely from the corn plant which resulted 
in animals in fine condition, was considered by the writers as worthy 
of further investigation. In a region such as eastern Washington 
this is especially true, for the growing of wheat predominates there 
and the wheat plant in many cases comprises at least the bulk of the 
ration for stock. 
From conversations with some of the pioneers of the State of Wash¬ 
ington who grew wheat exclusively in the early days, the writers 
have learned that cattle and their offspring showed no ill effects 
which were regarded as due to rations that were restricted to 
the wheat plant. This also suggested a further study with wheat. 
The possibility that wheat grown in the Middle West might be 
different in composition from wheat grown in the Pacific Coast 
States seemed another good reason for further investigation. It was 
also considered that the wheat plant might have a different effect on 
livestock when consumed in pasturing than when consumed as 
mature grain and straw. 
In 1919 work was started by the senior writer to try to determine 
if possible why the Wisconsin Experiment Station and the practical 
feeders of the Northwest obtained different results. In 1921 the 
junior writer took charge of the work and started a project on the 
nutritive value of wheat and wheat products. This was designed to 
study the nutritive deficiencies of wheat, limits in the use of deficient 
food elements, variation in the nutritive value of wheat and the 
factors on which variation depends, relative nutritive value of differ¬ 
ent varieties of wheat, and the nutritive value of the flour from the 
wheats studied. This paper is a progress report on a part of the 
work done. 
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 
According to Hart, McCollum, and collaborators of the Wisconsin 
Experiment Station (11), 3 a ration restricted to the wheat plant did 
not seem to allow successful growth and reproduction. In a later 
publication (IS), they expressed the opinion that the inferior results 
with the wheat-plant ration were probably due to mineral deficiency, 
and inherent toxicity in the wheat kernel, with possibly a third 
deficiency—vitamin A. 
1 Received for publication Sept. 11, 1924; issued September, 1925. 
2 The authors are grateful to Charles H. Hunt and Otto McCreary for their assistance. Published with 
the approval of the Director of the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station as Scientific Paper No. 
110, College of Agriculture and Experiment Station, State College of Washington, Pullman, Wash. 
2 Reference is made by number (italic) to “ Literature cited,” p. 374. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XXXI, No. 4 
Washington, D. C. Aug. 15,1925 
Key No. Wash.-4 
61911—25t-5 
( 365 ) 
