ALBERT

Description: The examination of 108 first year seeds hays showed the average crude protein content to be 9·0 ― and the average crude fibre content 25·7 ―. The crude protein content varied from 5·0 to 13·5 ― and was directly associated with the clover content.Figures obtained on hays cut in the second and third years of the ley suggest that the protein content falls, and the crude fibre content rises, with increasing age of ley.The composition and digestibility of twenty first year hays were determined and the average figures quoted for hays of high, medium and low clover content. The starch equivalent values of these hays were high and moderately constant, varying from 33·3 to 41·2, average 36·8. The protein equivalent values varied from 1·8 to 8·4 ―, average 5·1 ―.The composition and digestibility of four samples of second year seeds hay, two samples of third year hay, one sample of second cut hay in its first year and one sample of lucerne and cocksfoot hay were also determined.

Description: The mean change in the pH of 134 undiluted ejaculates of clinically normal bulls was –0·302 ± 0·027 after 1 hr. storage at 37°C. The greater the pH. change, the lower was the initial pH and the higher was the initial motility and the number of spermatozoa per c.mm. The greater the decrease in pH the poorer was the motility after incubation. The motility was better maintained in semen diluted with egg-phosphate medium, compared with undiluted semen, which agreed with the smaller pH change in this medium. There was no evidence of a relationship between the pH change and the motility after incubation and the period of time for which a high motility was maintained during storage. It is suggested that the determination of the initial pH and the pH change after 1 hr. incubation may provide a useful and accurate evaluation of the semen of the bull.

Description: An experiment designed to show the effects of a complete fertilizer and of water applied extra to the rainfall on the yield of carrots grown on a gravel soil in good heart, has demonstrated that the fertilizer mixture was entirely without effect. The interaction water level × fertilizer was not significant, so that the increases in yield of carrot roots (increases which were 61·46 and 127·5 ― above the mean of the plots for rainfall only in the case of the total crop, and 61·73 and 111·5 ― for ware carrots, for 3 and 6 in. of water extra to the rainfall, respectively) were due entirely to the additional water. The response in yield of the roots of the total crop and of ware to the second application of extra water showed no falling off compared with the response to the first extra application. There was evidence to prove that additional water caused heavier infestation of the roots by aphis.

Description: 1. Cut potato tissue possesses strong inherent powers of healing which are impaired by treatment with salts of copper, cobalt, nickel and iron. Treatment is followed by mould growth, particularly by Penicillium spp., this being most profuse with copper salts and least with those of iron.2. Association between mould growth and treatment with salts of copper, cobalt, nickel and iron suggests a periodic relationship.3. Development of Penicillium on potato tissues following treatment with salts of copper is greater than may be explained solely on the basis of saprophytic growth following phytocidal action and. the prevention of suberization.4. Under moist conditions, treatment of nonliving substrata such as straw, leather and skin with copper sulphate tends to prevent mould growth whilst considerable growth develops on these materials when untreated.

Description: An investigation has been made into the effect of time of application of nitrogen as sodium nitrate to the turnip. Experiments were arranged on a statistical basis, and were carried out in sand culture. The life of the turnip up to harvest was arbitrarily divided into three equal light periods, and the fourteen possible combinations of high and low nitrogen applied in these periods constituted the treatments. The absolute amount of growth was largely determined by the level of nitrogen, but the relative proportion of growth was independent of this level. Tops developed earlier than roots, and the effect of difference in nitrogen level was more marked with the roots than the tops. For a high yield of roots it seems desirable to apply nitrogen, early, but for a high yield of tops it would be preferable to apply the nitrogen as post-seedling dressings. The chief effect of level of nitrogen on moisture content was confined to the period in which the harvest took place. A comparison of top/ root ratios also showed that high nitrogen in the early stages of growth stimulated root development.We thank Mr J. F. N. Leonard for his help during this experiment.

Description: Digestibility tests with poultry, and one with rabbits, on brans produced under war-time conditions led to the following conclusions:1. Changes in war-time milling practice, brought about by the implementation of Government policy directed towards maximum production of flour for human use, at first led to the production of a fine bran, somewhat better in food value than prewar bran, and a coarse bran, of poorer quality than pre-war bran. Later, owing to dilution of the grist with barley, the quality of the fine bran deteriorated and became worse than that of prewar bran.2. The changes noted were largely caused by the extremely efficient removal of the starch by the millers, and reflect the ability shown by the milling industry in diverting to human food supplies the maximum possible edible food material present in the wheat berry.3. The superior efficiency of the rabbit's digestive system for dealing with fibrous foods, as compared with the fowl's, is emphasized by the differences in the amounts of digestible nutrients extracted from a given sample of coarse bran by these two classes of animals. 1 kg. of coarse bran yielded 2522 kg. cal. of metabolizable energy in the rabbit as compared with 1637 kg. cal. in the fowl.

Description: An attempt has been made in the present communication to assess the value for pigs of urban swill collected during the winter months, when the main ingredients are potato peelings, cabbage leaves and other vegetable residues, and also during the summer months, at which period of the year the quality of the swill is at its lowest level, the product containing substantial proportions of pea pods, cabbage leaves and cabbage stalks. The form known as concentrated swill was used in the digestion trials, since regular and adequate supplies of this could be guaranteed, and, being already cooked, it did not require any heat treatment before feeding.Chemical analysis showed that the winter swill, on account of the presence of the potato peelings, was distinctly richer in N-free extractives than the summer product. The latter, however, was richer i n protein and lime, and, as a result of the replacement of potato peelings by pea pods as the main ingredient, displayed a much more fibrous character than the winter swill.

Description: An account has been given of an experiment in cross-breeding carried out at the Northern Breeding Station of the National Poultry Institute at Rease-heath, Cheshire.The breeds used for crossing were the Rhode Island Red and the White Leghorn. Much care was taken to ensure that the birds were of good quality and were from outbred stocks.Fertility was at a high level of about 90 ―. It was significantly lower for White Leghorn × Rhode Island Red matings (88·3 ―) than for the pure White Leghorn matings (93·7 ―).Cross-mating had little effect on hatchability of fertile eggs. The fertile eggs from Rhode Island Red dams hatched better than those from White Leghorn dams. A suggestion is made that this may be associated with a difference of porosity in the eggs of the two breeds.

Description: Results are reported of sixteen replicated experiments on spring-sown barley and oats in south-east England to compare fertilizer sown in the drills with fertilizer broadcast. In thirteen of the experiments, fertilizer in the drills gave significantly greater yields of grain and straw than fertilizer broadcast, in two of the experiments the differences between the two were not significant; in only one experiment was the grain yield significantly greater where the fertilizer was broadcast.Fertilizers were twice as effective when sown in the drills as when broadcast. On an average, broadcast fertilizer increased the yields of grain and straw by 4·0 and 6·3 cwt. per acre respectively. Drilling the fertilizer with the seed gave over double these increases, viz. 8·0 cwt. grain and 14·6 cwt. straw per acre.Drilling the fertilizer with the seed tended to delay brairding. The crop on the fertilizer-drilled plots soon caught up and overtook that on the fertilizer-broadcast plots. Drilling the fertilizer with the seed increased tillering and decreased weed-growth.Not more than about 3 cwt. of a soluble fertilizer per acre should be sown in the drills or the stand of plant may be poor. For the same amounts of soluble plant food, the higher the analysis of the fertilizer the less is the delay in brairding.The possibility of obviating the delay in brairding by sowing the fertilizer near, but not in contact with, the seed is briefly considered.

Description: 1. An experiment has been conducted with dairy cows to find the effect on milk production of feeding rations with a high dry-matter content—typical war-time rations.2. It was found that where a ration high in dry matter is fed, the cow tends to refuse food, and a statistically significant fall in milk production results. The correlation between the refusal of food, calculated in terms of starch equivalent, and the fall in milk production was 0·959.3. The factors causing this inability of the cow to consume sufficient food to meet her total nutrient requirements have been considered. It has been concluded that dry-matter consumption is not an adequate method of expressing the amount of food a cow will consume, and that the major factor influencing food consumption is the palatability of the individual foods making up the ration.My thanks are due to Dr S. J. Rowland for chemical analysis of the individual foods used in the experiments.

Description: It has been shown in these breeding investigations that it is possible to combine the winter hardiness of low-yielding varieties possessing characters unsuited for cultivation in this country, with many of the desirable features of the best two-row spring varieties at present grown for malting purposes. Although, with the production of the new hybrid variety Pioneer, a definite advance has been made in the production of a two-row winter barley for malting, there is no reason to suppose that further improvements cannot be made, and work is proceeding with this object in view. But in addition to the special problem of malting barley, the results so far obtained indicate that there is considerable scope in this hybridization of winter and spring varieties for the production of forms suitable for growing as feeding barleys. The hybridization of varieties differing so widely in their morphological and physiological characters, and also in their ecological adaptation, gives a wide basis for the selection of a great range of forms. On the other hand, distant hybridization of this type is liable to result in the production of a very high proportion of worthless material, involving the loss of the highest expression of the very specialized characters necessary in a barley possessing the attributes of a high-yielding malting variety with satisfactory field characters.

Description: A series of digestibility trials on fowls with a number of potato products led to the following conclusions:1. Raw potatoes, though readily consumed by fowls when mixed with other foods, are not readily utilized, the potato starch largely escaping digestion.2. Boiled potatoes are readily utilized by the fowl, the preliminary cooking altering the structure of the starch grain in such a way as to render the starch readily digestible.3. The energy derived from 1 lb. of cooked potatoes is, in the fowl, equivalent to the energy derived from no less than 5 lb. of raw potatoes.4. The food value of dried potato products is shown to be dependent upon the nature of the heat treatment to which the potatoes are subjected in the preliminary treatment of drying.5. Dried potato slices of the type produced in sugar-beet factory driers have a value approximating that of well-boiled potatoes, both values being compared on a dry-matter basis.

Description: 1. An accurate method of estimating the density of spermatozoa in a suspension by the haemocytometer is described.2. A rapid method of estimating the density of a semen sample by the use of Brown's opacity tubes is given. There is a simple linear relation between opacity and density, the latter expressed in terms of millions of spermatozoa per ml. being approximately five times the opacity standard.3. The rapid method is sufficiently accurate for use in insemination centres.

Description: 1. An investigation has been carried out on the food value of beef from steers and heifers. A very varied group was used, selected as being representative of the beef animals slaughtered in England in war time. The animals were from five breeds; ages varied from 1 to over 4 years, live weights from 6½ to 14 cwt. and dressing-out percentages from 50 to 62.2. The chemical composition of the beef varied widely. The fat from the edible meat, expressed as a percentage of the live weight, varied from 4·6 to 21·6 %, the protein from 6·1 to 7·4%, and the water from 22·8 to 27·4%. The ratio of fat to protein in the edible meat varied from 0·7: 1 to 3·4: 1.

Description: 1. An experiment has been carried out with dairy cows to find whether feeding the same ration in different ways has any effect on milk yield or milk composition.2. No differential effect on milk yield or milk composition of the three methods of feeding which were used could be demonstrated, in spite of an extremely accurate experimental technique. It was therefore concluded that there is no advantage in increasing the number of meals into which a ration is divided, or spreading the ration over a longer period.

Description: 1. The grazing habits of Aberdeen-Angus and Hereford beef cows, on pasture without supplementary feed, were studied over continuous periods of 24 hr. during the months of July, August and September. The pastures were from 3 to 7 acres in extent and contained a good growth of Kentucky bluegrass and wild white clover, with an average moisture content of 72 %.2. During each 24 hr. period the cows spent from 7 to 8 hr. only in grazing, whatever the length of the herbage. Of this time, only some 5 hr. could be counted as actually employed in gathering herbage, as the remainder was spent in walking short distances and in selecting the area to be grazed. On the average 60 % of the grazing was performed by day, when the average distance travelled was 2 miles, and 40 % by night, when the cows travelled only about half a mile. With a dense sward of from 4 to 5 in. in height, representing about 4500 lb. green herbage to the acre, each cow was able to consume about 150 lb. of green herbage, or 32 lb. of dry matter, daily. As the amount of green herbage decreased through grazing to 2200 and 1100 lb. respectively, the daily intake was correspondingly reduced to 90 lb. (20 lb. dry matter) and 45 lb. (10 lb. dry matter). On a pasture containing about 5000 lb. green herbage of about 10 in. in height, the average daily intake was only 70 lb. (20 lb. dry matter).3. Records were made also (the average figure for the 24 hr. period being given in parentheses) of time spent in lying down (12 hr.); time spent in cudding (7 hr.); frequency of defaecation (12); amount of manure (46 lb., covering an area of 8 sq. ft.); frequency of urination (9); frequency of drinking (once only, usually in late afternoon); and frequency of suckling calf (3, each for about 15 min. at 8 hr. intervals).4. The application of the results to pasture management is discussed.

Description: A brief account is given of the work done in these laboratories on swayback and a comparison is made with a similar disease occurring in Australia. The Australian disease is due to an uncomplicated Cu deficiency of soil and herbage, but it is shown that swayback in this country is due to neither a Cu deficiency of soil nor herbage but nevertheless the affected animals suffer from a Cu deficiency and respond to Cu medication.It is shown that ewes with a low blood Cu in Derbyshire on being transferred to Cambridge rapidly attained a normal blood Cu.Analyses of grass from widely separated swayback-affected areas showed that in no case was the Cu content low.A short discussion is given of the possibility of lead being implicated in the causation of the disease, but it is concluded that lead plays only a secondary role.In the discussion it is pointed out that there is much fluorspar in the affected area of Derbyshire.

Description: Ewes. There was some variation from year to year in the times of onset and end of the breeding season; on the average it was evenly spaced on either side of the shortest day. Occasionally ewes were served and became pregnant at times well outside the normal limits of the breeding season. Lambs were allowed to suckle the ewes for as long as they would; when lambing occurred more than about 100 days from the start of the season there was no delay in onset of heat in the ewe. When lambing was later there was some delay, but the duration of the lactation anoestrum shortened to a minimum near the middle of the season and then lengthened again.In the first half of the season the period of the oestrous cycle lengthened slowly and steadily; in the second part it became more variable, there was first a slight shortening, but upon the whole it continued to increase in length. From the start of the season the frequency of twinning increased quickly to a peak in about November and then declined for the rest of the season. At the end of the season there was a high proportion of services not fertile.Lambs. Growth in the first 2 months was greatest in those born in May; in the fourth to sixth months it was greatest in the earliest born and least in the latest, the highest weight at 6 months old being reached by those earliest born.

Description: The investigations described in this paper are concerned with the influence of the various war-time changes in milling practice on the composition, digestibility and nutritive value, both for ruminants, and pigs, of the wheaten milling offals. The need for obtaining a larger output of flour for human consumption led to the raising of the rate of flour extraction from 70 to 75 % at an early stage of the war, and this was increased further to 85% with the introduction of the ‘national wheat-meal loaf’ in 1942. Two grades of wheaten offals only were marketed at this stage of the war—fine bran and coarse bran. Early in 1943 it became permissible to incorporate a proportion of rye, barley or de-husked oats in the wheat before milling. It was considered unlikely that the inclusion of rye or de-husked oats would exert any adverse influence on the nutritive value of the milling offals. When barley is used to dilute the wheat, however, the husk from this grain finds its way into the offals, and it was therefore to be anticipated that the presence of the barley husk would cause the fibre content of the offals to be raised and their nutritive value to be lowered. Authority has been given for the use of a grist that will give rise to a flour containing up to 10% of barley flour, but at the time of writing it would appear that, in actual practice, flour millers have not exceeded 10% of barley in the grist itself.

Description: Samples of bracken were taken at fortnightly intervals from June to November at two centres. These were separated into leaf and stem and analysed.Larger samples were treated for the preparation of proteins and sugars by passing the bracken through a roller-mill, precipitating the protein with acid and concentrating the juice for sugars.Chemical composition. The main points in the analyses of the whole plants were as follows, all figures quoted being on a dry-matter basis:(1) The crude and true protein contents of young bracken in early June were high, 21 and 18%, but these fell rapidly to 10% in mid-July and finally to 3% in October.(2) The lignin content was high throughout, rising from almost 20% in young bracken to 34% in the nearly dead material.(3) The cellulose content followed the lignin content.(4) In July and August the bracken contained about 10% of total sugars. A rapid fall occurred in October, and the final samples contained very little sugars.

Description: 1. A small-scale experiment in which cows have been fed at three levels for 3 weeks during mid-lactation has been carried out.2. The results show that the changes in milk yield due to changes in the level of feeding were relatively small.3. It has been suggested that where short-term food shortages occur in well-fed herds, economy should take place in the rations of the cows in mid-lactation rather than in the ration of the cows which are soon due to calve.

Description: The present paper deals with the composition and nutritive value of the following by-products of the pea-canning industry: (1) green pea pods; (2.) pea-pod meal resulting from the artificial drying of pea pods; (3) pea-pod silage as made in a tower silo; (4) molassed silage made in a sisalkraft silo from pea haulms with pods.Pea pods give rise to an excellent silage provided they are tightly trampled and a means for draining off the effluent is supplied. The silage is pale yellowish green in colour and has a pleasant, vinegary smell with little or no suggestion of the presence of butyric acid. It is much relished by sheep and cattle. It is superior in digestibility to ‘green fruity’ oat and vetch silage and contains, per 100 lb., 27·5 lb. of dry matter, including 15·9 lb. of starch equivalent and 2·3 lb. of digestible crude protein. No molasses need be added during filling, since the sugar naturally present in the pods ensures a favourable fermentation.

Description: A method is described for determining the field volume and the air space of a clod of any shape by filling its pores with a hydrocarbon oil, such as paraffin or tetralin, and determining its weight in the oil and in air before and after impregnation. The method appears to work well for clods of any moisture content.This method is shown to give values of these volumes entirely comparable with those given by the other accurate methods described in the literature. Its accuracy for clods of Rothamsted soil, weighing between 20 and 500 g., was probably at least 1 part per thousand, i.e. 0-1%.The method has been applied to the determination of the available water held by a soil and has been used to illustrate the effect of long-continued applications of farmyard manure to a soil in increasing the amount of available water it can hold.

Description: Digestibility trials with poultry were carried out with dura, carobs and hide-fleshings.1. Dura equals the feeding value of corn and exceeds that of wheat, barley and oats. The high feeding value of dura is due to the large amount of easily digestible starch, and to the very small percentage of crude fibre.2. Carobs. The main nutrient factor in carobs is represented by the totally digestible sugars contained in the N-free extract. Protein and crude fibre are not digested to any appreciable extent. The feeding value of carobs was compared with that of grain foodstuffs.3. Hide-fleshings are a by-product of the tanneries. They contain 66·25 % of protein, which is digested by poultry like meat-meal protein (89·9 %).The authors wish to thank Mrs Gnessia Rabinovicz for her untiring assistance in the execution of these experiments.

Description: 1. Cows and heifers were injected shortly before slaughter with an extract of horse pituitary or with pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin.2. These substances were administered at different times of the cycle or in pregnancy; various doses were given simultaneously with removal of the corpus luteum.3. A series of animals were given 1500 or 5000 i.u. at intervals from 5 days before to 3 days after expression of the corpus luteum; up to thirty ovulations were so obtained.4. A small number of cows have been treated and left to calve; there have been several twin and triplet births.

Description: 1. The colour pattern in the Essex breed shows continuous variation in width and in shape of the belt, in size and number of the distal white points, in pigmentation of the skin and in the occurrence of all-black colour.2. The variation in ear shape extends from long, hanging ears to small, erect (prick) ears.3. ‘Rose back’ was observed in a small percentage of pure-bred Essex pigs.4. Observed results of crossing Wessex with Essex pigs, and the similarity in variation of colour of the two breeds, indicate that the factors upon which the colour depends are the same in Essex and in Wessex, and that there is no genetical difference in colour in these two breeds.

Description: 1. Literature relevant to the elucidation of the role of riboflavin in chick nutrition is briefly reviewed.2. A series of experiments on the quantitative requirement of White Wyandotte chicks for riboflavin is described.3. The riboflavin requirement of White Wyandotte chicks for optimum growth to 6 weeks of age is the same as that for optimum efficiency of food utilization over the same period (3·0 μg. riboflavin per g. food).4. The riboflavin content for the prevention of curled-toe paralysis is 3·6 μg. per g. food, and is slightly greater than the requirement for optimum growth and food utilization.5. The curve relating the riboflavin content of the diet to the riboflavin content of the chick's liver has a sigmoid form, and in general tends to lie asymptotically to values of about 26 μg. riboflavin per g. fresh liver when the intake is grossly deficient, and 39 μg. riboflavin per g. fresh liver when the intake is fully adequate.6. It is suggested that the riboflavin content of the liver may be a more satisfactory criterion of the minimum riboflavin requirement for full well-being than the amounts necessary to secure optimum growth and prevention of curled-toe paralysis.

Description: Bracken cut in June was ensiled in various ways, and some of the products were examined for chemical composition, digestibility and palatability. The main findings were:1. Overheated silage was moderately palatable to sheep and cattle, but its digestibility was low and it approximated to wheat or barley straw in feeding value.2. Silage subjected to less heat was unpalatable, and in some cases was absolutely refused by sheep. The ensiled stems were preferred to the leaves. The digestibility was low but slightly better than that of the overheated silage.3. Ensiling seriously affects the digestibility of bracken protein. In two silages none of the true protein was digestible, and in one the digestibility of this constituent was only 12·9%.It is concluded that the ensiling of bracken is unlikely to prove profitable.

Description: Records are given for 1130 oestrous cycles in zebus and 678 cycles in grades. The mean length was 23·03 days in zebus and 22·42 days in grades. The mean duration of oestrus was 4·78 hr. in zebus. 7·40 hr. in grades. Neither exposure to additional light at night nor feeding a supplementary ration had any effect on the cycle of oestrus.Seasonal variations in both the cycle and oestrus occurred in zebus, but in grades they were much less marked. An association between climatic conditions and sexual function was noted in that a season of increased temperature and sunshine was associated with increased sexual function and vice versa.

Description: 1. A field experiment in which six farms cooperated, supplying fifty-one experimental cows and heifers, has been conducted. The object was to find whether feeding before calving 156 lb. of concentrates or its equivalent in feeding value as bulky food increased milk production.2. The results showed that animals fed concentrates gained more weight before calving, were in better condition at calving, and produced a maximum of 7 lb. more milk per cow per day than the controls. Although those fed bulky food increased in live weight more than the controls, they did not calve in such good condition and produced only 3 lb. of milk per cow per day more than the controls.3. Nearly half the animals fed bulky food refused appreciable amounts of this supplement, and it is probable that this refusal of food is one of the factors responsible for the differences in milk production between the two groups receiving additional food.4. The correlation (r) between the weight of the cow and the weight of the calf was +0·507, and there was no statistically significant difference between the weight of the calves produced by cows receiving different treatments.5. Although the fat percentage of the milk of the cows receiving supplementary food was higher than that of the cows receiving no supplement, the difference was not statistically significant.6. Correlation analysis showed that the farmers' judgement of the condition of their cows at calving time was very closely related to the cows' subsequent performance.