Digestive Coefficients of Poultry Feeds, etc. 
37 
was digested in barley and in rye 4.68 percent and in oats 11.69 per cent. In our work 
the fiber of oats ranked first, rye second, with barley closely following. Crost states 
that the availability of the fat in rye is very low as compared with the fat in oats and 
barley. In this we agree as the digestibility of the fat of rye was but 27.87 percent, 
64.36 for barley, and 74.42 for oats. 
Brown in 1904 concludes from his experiments that fowls digest crude protein and 
nitrogen-free-extract in much greater proportions in corn than in oats, and that 
wheat falls between the two. In our experiments in five tests with corn there was a 
total of 83.9 percent organic matter digested and with wheat in six digestion trials 
ranking second and oats third with 63.78 percent. As to protein, oats rank first 
with 73.49 percent digested, corn second with 68.71 percent, and wheat third with 
61.70 per cent digested. As to nitrogen-free-extract, corn ranks first with 89.40 percent 
digested, oats second with 88.18 percent, and wheat third with 86.78 percent. Wheat 
shows a low percentage digestible fat being only 37.76 percent, and oats 74.42 percent. 
This latter corresponds to Brown’s findings. The nutritive value of these three grains 
we place in the order of corn, wheat, oats. The low fat content of wheat, it being but 
2.90 percent, allows of wheat being placed above oats. The order of value of all 
grains tested based on quantity of digestible nutrients as indicated in these tests is: 
corn, hulled oats, wheat, kafir corn, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and rice. 
Our tests confirm those of Bartlett and others, that fowls digest fiber with difficulty. 
The percentage of fiber varies from 2.16 percent in five tests with fat extracted soy¬ 
bean meal to 11.69 percent in oats. It is quite evident that the fiber content of poultry 
feeds should be as low as possible. The rapidity of digestion in fowls may be the reason 
for the low digestibility of fiber. Digestion tests with livestock show that the animals 
with the longer intestine digest fiber more readily. The low digestibility of fat and 
fiber in wheat bran leads us to not favor its use as general and yi such quantities as 
used by many poultry men. 
Wheat middlings is at the foot of the list in the total digestible pounds in one hun¬ 
dred pounds. This is true studying the first series of nine digestion trials showing 
49.99 pounds in one hundred pounds, the second series of six tests with 58.61 pounds, 
and the third in combination with corn meal with 61.70 pounds in each one hundred 
pounds. The average of these eighteen tests is 56.76 pounds. 
With the exceptions of wheat middlings, meat and bone meal, digester tankage, and 
blood meal these tests show that fowls are more efficient in the digestion of nitrogen- 
free-extract than in the digestion of crude protein or fat. These include corn, wheat, 
oats, corn meal (bolted), buttermilk, (dried) soybean meal (fat extracted), peanut 
meal (fat extracted), cotton seed meal, corn meal (unbolted), rye, hulled oats, buck¬ 
wheat, rice, kafir corn, and barley. They are more efficient in digesting fat over 
protein in corn, oats, corn meal (bolted), meat and bone meal, digester tankage, fish 
meal, corn meal (unbolted), hulled oats, buckwheat, rice, and kafir corn. They are 
more efficient in the digestion of protein over fat in wheat middlings, wheat, blood 
meal, buttermilk (dried), soybean meal (fat extracted), peanut meal (fat extracted), 
cotton seed meal, rye, and barley. 
In studying the digestion results with these eighteen feeds we note that the feeds 
showing the highest percentage digestible matter are those low in fiber. These are 
among the grains corn, wheat, hulled oats, rye, and kafir corn and among the by-pio- 
ducts corn meal and fat extracted soybean meal, and among all of the animal products. 
Those feeds that are relatively high in fiber, such as wheat middlings, oats, buckwheat, 
and rice, are relatively low in total digestible organic matter. This reflects the inabil¬ 
ity of fowls to use to advantage the coarser feed stuffs and suggests that the feed 
