nV^oilt Or CAUfOKH BR/ H OF THE COLLEGE OF AGKIC , "' r,, ■ , COPY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. BERKELEY, CAL. E. W. HILGARD, Director* BULLETIN NO. 100. E. /. WICKSON, Acting Director. IJWESTIGATIOJM OF TJHE CATTbE fOOQS Of GALIf ORIMIA. Note. — Hitherto the efforts of this station in the in its essential features readily mastered by any in- interest of stockgrowers have been mainly confined telligent animal-feeder who will give his attention to the introduction trial and distribution of grasses to it. and forage plants suitable to arid lands. This As Mr. Jaffa states, we need many more analyses seemed the most pressing need, and was continually before we shall possess full data to enable us to give enforced upon us by our correspondents. The satisfactory advice to those seeking to know what popular demand has also been shown by the eager- materials they can use to produce desirable results ness with which offerings of seeds and roots of most economically, and in what proportions such promising grasses and forage plants have been ac- materials should be used in practical feeding for cepted by people in all parts of the State. It has different purposes. To this end we invite always been our intention to supplement this samples of forage plants, or field vegetables, in a effort with chemical examination of all avail- green state, of hays of all kinds, and of millstuffs able feeding materials in order that Califor- or other byproducts which may be available for nians might avail themselves of scientific methods cattle food. Such samples should be sent by ex- in selection and compounding of animal foods press addressed " Agricultural Experiment Station, which have been demonstrated to be of such wide University of California, Berkeley, Cal." Samples practical advantage at the East and in Europe, and should be of about five pounds weight, and should have been so generally adopted by progressive stock- be accompanied by full descriptions of their nature, growers. Owing to the pressure upon our labor- origin and market values. E. J. Wickson. atory force and facilities by investigations in other lines previously begun, it has not been possible, un- The great aim of chemical analysis of tilrecently to enter upon this line of work It is fcedi tuffs in general, Is, to ascertain the now hoped to pursue it regularly and systematically. e . * The statement which is given by Mr. Jaffa in this am0UntS ° f the d,f3ferent Orients con- bulletin is introductory to more direct applications tamed in the food; and the object of rational of analyses to practical use which will follow. The feeding is to use the results SO gained in a subject is in its nature somewhat technical, but is practical, economical and scientific manner. ~ *AbHent on leave, 12 moa., from Juns 15, 1892. As this is the first report of OUr State Ex- 2 periment Station on the subject, it will be proper to give a brief review of the history of such investigations and an explanation of the terms used. The first experiments in this direction were made in Germany a little more than 30 years ago, by Bischoff and Voit, in Munich, Stoh man and Henneberg in Weende, and Wolff in Hohenheim, and it is due to these men that rational feeding has advanced to the great extent it has in the present day. The subject was first prominently brought to notice in the United States in an address before the Connecticut Board of Agriculture in 1873, by Prof. W. O. Atwater, now direc- tor of the Storrs School Agricultural Experi- ment Station, Storrs, Conn., the annual reports of which contain most valuable and interesting information, and from which some of the data herein given have been obtained. In regard to cattle foods the German feed- ing standards, and methods of computing rations are in common use all over the eastern States, and we trust that it will not be long ere the same will be in vogue here. But owing to the great differences in climate and harvesting conditions between California on the one hand, and the East and Europe on the other, it becomes imperative with us to make complete investigations of all the different food materials as they exist here, in order that we may proceed intelligently in the making up of rations. While chemical analysis and investigation can do and have done much toward helping and guiding the farmer and dairyman, they cannot at the present time accomplish all that could be desired. Grave errors may arise by following too closely the standards and rations set down by chemical researches alone, without tak- ing into account the local circumstances, the individual needs of the animals and the pur- poses for which they are fed, whether for milk or for fattening for market or for work, as well as the variations of the feeding stufls themselves. Yet, without any knowledge of the composition of the substance fed, the farmer is not only in the dark as to the ben- efit to be derived from the food, but is also ignorant as to the actual amount necessary, thus wasting at times considerable valuable material. Nutritive Ingredients of the Food. — The sustaining of the animal body in all of its varied requirements is done by the nutritive ingredients or nutrients of the food, which comprise protein, fat, carbohydrates and mineral matters: the latter, in estimating food values, are not considered, not because they are not necessary, but for the reason that nearly all food, no matter of what de- scription, contains a sufficient supply of mineral matter. When investigating the amount of ingre- dients withdrawn from the soil by the crops from which the foods are derived, the ash or mineral contents is the all-important part. Protein, derived from the Greek, signify- ing "to take first place," contains all the nitrogenous compounds of the food, and consists chiefly of albuminoids, such as the albumen of the egg, the myosin of lean meat, gluten of wheat, casein of milk, the gelatin- oids of the bones and tendons, etc. Besides the albuminoids there are other nitrogenous matters, chief among which is the class termed amides, which are found to a greater or less extent in all foods, more particularly those of vegetable origin. 11 In vegetation the amides appear as in- termediate stages between the mineral or inorganic matter in the shape of ammonia salts, and the organic constituents or albu- minoids. They are, on the one hand, formed in the growing plant from the ammonia salts by a constructive process and from them or by their aid probably the albuminoids are built up; on the other hand, in the animal body they are the stages through which the elements of the albuminoids pass in their reversion to purely mineral matter." " In germinating seeds and developing buds the amides probably combine both these offices, in being first formed in the germ from the albuminoids in the seeds, entering the young plant or shoot, and in being re- constructed into albuminoids. Their full solubility in water and their ability to pene- trate moist membranes adapt them for this movement. They temporarily accumulate in the seedlings and buds but disappear to a great extent as the plant matures, albumi- noids taking their place, in which transfor- mation they require the aid of the carbohydr- ates." {Johnson ) The amide per centage of the total nitro- s gen contained in foods, varies from less than one per cent, in some meals up to as much as 40 in some of the green fodders, and in some varieties of beets used as feeding mate- rial, as much as 50 per cent, of the total ni- trogen is non-albuminoid. The amides are not considered as valuable as the albumi- noids in their nutritive effect, in that they are, similarly to the carbohydrates, con- servers of the albuminoids. The nitrogenous compounds of the food are generally for the above reasons, re- ported as crude protein. The albuminoids (or crude protein) in the different food materials are estimated from the nitrogen by multiplying the figure for the latter by 6.25, nitrogen being 16 per cent, of the albuminoids. In England the factor used is 6.33 in place of 6 25. Use of Protein— The protein being the only nutrient containing nitrogen, has for its principal function the formation of the nitrogenous ingredients of the blood, bone, hair^ muscles, skin, tendons, etc., because as far as is known no albuminoids are formed in the animal body otherwise than by the transformation of similar bodies presented to it from external sources. The protein can be transformed into fats and may serve as fuel. Fat. — The term fat includes the butter of milk, the fat of meats, oil of seeds, wax of plants, etc. It is determined by treat- ing the perfectly dried substance with ether; the extract thus resulting being designated as crude fat. As might be supposed, these ether extracts have different nutritive values, the fats from the green fodders being of less value than that from the meals and seeds. Some authorities in estimating the nutritive effects of food, give to all the fats the same significance. The use of fat is mainly for a fuel supply, although it may form fatty tissue, but not muscle. Carbohydrates. —The carbohydrates, com- monly called " Nitrogen Free Extraction ac- count of their containing no nitrogen, consist of starch, sugar, gums, etc. , and fiber. The lat- ter, in the statement of the analyses of cattle foods is reported separately, while the remain- der of the above are, in order to conform to the general usage, classed together under the head of "Nitrogen Free Extract." The gums play only a secondary part as regards the nutritive values of foods. The carbohydrates are transformed in the body to fats and consumed as fuel. The latest experimental evidence goes to prove that protein, carbohydrates and fat may directly or indirectly be transformed into the fats of milk. The mineral matters or ash of the food materials consist chiefly of lime, potash and phosphoric acid with varying amounts of' sodium, magnesia, iron, sulphuric and chlor- hydric acids, silica, etc. These ingredients have important func- tions to perform in the animal body and, as previously stated, exist in sufficient quanti- ties in all foods. Digestibility of Feeding Stuffs. — The chemical composition of trie food material alone is not of much value to the farmer if he does not know how much of each nutri- ent for the feeding stuff in question is di- gestible. In all focds there is always a cer- tain portion of each nutrient which is not di- gested in its passage through the body. In order to ascertain how much is digest- ible the food is weighed and analyzed before consumption, and the animal excrement sim- ilarly treated. The difference between these two analyses is taken as the quantity di- gested. The results so obtained are only approxi- mate, but in the present state of such re- searches the best data attainable. They are termed "digestion coefficients." To illus- trate the above: In every 100 pounds of the sample of alfalfa analyzed there are 7.96 crude protein 1.40 crude fat 8.28 nitrogen free extract 36.12 crude fiber. For this hay it has been found that of the protein about 75 per cent is digestible, of the fat 48 per cent, of the crude fiber 46 per cent and about 68 per cent of the nitrogen free extract can be digested. Hence in 100 pounds of the alfalfa there would be— 5,97 lbs. digestible protein .67 M » *fat £8 « " nit X nfreeeXtr '} carbohydrates 4 In a similar manner are obtained the re- sults given in the table below. For each food material the digestion coef- ficients vary to some extent. For instance, while about 57 per cent of the protein is di- gestible in oat hay, 78 per cent is so in the case of wheat middlings or bran. Nutritive Ratio. — The nutritive ratio is the proportion between the digestible pro- tein or nitrogenous matters of the food and the non-nitrogenous part, or the fats and car- bohydrates. Thus, in alfalfa, The digestible protein is 6.97 « " fat x 26" 1.68 «< " fiber " 16.15 « " nitrogen free extract 26.03 43.86 Forty-three and eighty-six hundredths di- vided by 5.97 gives 7.3, which is the nutri- tive ratio. When estimating this ratio the figure denoting the amount of digestible fat is multiplied by 2>£, because it has been found by experiment that there is about i l /z times as much heat in a pound of fat as there is in the same quantity of carbohy- drates. Feeding Standards and Rations % — A feed- ing standard is the quantity of food required per day by the different classes of animals. The standards commonly in use in this coun- try are the ones adopted by the German in- vestigators in this subject, notably Dr. E. Wolff, by whom the following table has been worked out: POUNDS PER DAY PER 1000 POUNDS LIVE WEIGHT. Total or- 1 ganic or dry matter. I Protein. Carbohy- drates. Nutritive ratio. Horse at average work. Horse at hard work Oxen fattening, 1st pe- 21.0 22.5 25.5 27.0 1.5 1.8 2.8 2.5 9.5 11.2 13.4 16 0 .40 .68 .80 .50 1:7 1:7 1:5.5 1:6.5 Oxen fat'g, 2d period- Oxen fat'g, 3d period- 26.0 25.0 24 0 3.0 2.7 2.5 14.8 14 8 12.5 .70 .60 .40 1:5.6 1:6.0 1:5.4 Sheep wool producing Sheep wool producing 20.0 22.5 1.2 1.5 10.3 11.4 .20 .25 1:9.0 1:8.0 Sheep fattening, 1st pe- 26.0 3.0 15.2 .50 1:5.5 Sheep fat'g, 2d period- 25.0 3.5 14.4 .60 1:4.5 Swine fat'g, 1st period.. Swine fat'g, 2d period- Swine fat'g, 3d period- 36.0 31.0 23.5J 6.0 4.0 2.7 27.5 24.0 17.5 1:5.5 1:6.0 1:6.5 A ration is the amount of food consumed by an animal in one day, or 24 hours. The use of the above table in the estimation of rations therefrom is a simple matter. But this, and a discussion thereof, will have to be deferred until we have a greater number and a more complete set of analyses of Cali- fornia food materials upon which to base our calculations. Potential Energy. — The measure of food, as regards its fuel value, is made in terms of potential energy, the unit of which is the calorie or the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water one degree Centigrade or one pound of water four degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of this unit we may use a unit of mechanical en- ergy, the foot ton, which is the force that would lift one ton one foot, one calorie being equal to about 1.53 foot tons. Recent experiments have been made with animals in the respiratory apparatus to learn the proportions in which the several classes of nutrients replace each other as fuel for the body. At the same time, experiments have been made with the calorimeter to de- termine the heats of combustion of the same materials. The results so obtained agreed very well with those from the direct experiment with the respiratory apparatus, and they also proved that the different nutrients replaced each other according to their heats of com- bustion . Prof. Rubner found, in experiments made in the physiological laboratory at Munich, the quantities of materials which were equal to 100 of fat to be Nutritive Substances, Water Free. as follows: As Determined by Direct Ex- periments with Animals. As Determined by Calorimeter. 225 243 232 234 236 213 235 229 235 235 Taking the ordinary food materials as they come, the following general estimate has been made for the average amount of energy in one gram of each of the classes of nutri- ents: 5 POTENTIAL ENERGY IN NUTBIENTS OP FOOD. 1 Calories. Foot Tons In one gram carbohydrates...! 41 6.3 14.2 6 8 These figures mean that when a gram of fat is consumed, be it fat of the food or body fat, it will, if its potential energy be all transformed into heat, yield enough to warm 9.3 kilograms of water one degree Centi- grade, or if it be transformed into mechan- ical energy such as the muscles use to do their work, it will furnish as much as would raise one ton 14.2 feet or 14.2 tons one foot. The potential energy of the protein or carbo- hydrates is less than one-half that of the fat. The potential energy is very simply cal- culated by the use of the above figures. The amount digestible of each of the nutrients is ascertained, then for each gram of protein so found there will be 4. 1 calories of poten- tial energy, similarly for carbohydrates, and for each gram of fat 9.3 calories. A much more convenient mode of calculating the potential energy is to estimate it for the pound of the food used. This is done by supposing each per cent of each nutrient to represent .01 of a pound, which is equiva- lent to 4. 53 grams. Hence in .01 pounds protein or carbohydrates there will be 18.6 calories (4.53 x 4. 1). .01 pound fat will yield 42.2 calories (4.53x9.3). Let us apply these figures to the sample of alfalfa which contains 5.97 per cent of digestible protein, .67 of fat and 42.18 of carbohydrates. The potential energy for the protein in one pound would be 11 1.04 calories (5.97 x 18.6); for the carbohydrates 784.55, and the fat in one pound would yield 28.27 calories (42.2 x. 67); the total poten- tial energy in one pound amounting to 923.86 calories. The use of the above data gives a means of simplifying the calculations of the rations when the sum of the calories and the neces- sary amount of protein are known. The fat and carbohydrates can replace each other to some extent in any ration, that is, one may rttrtr be increased and the other diminished, pro- vided the sum of the calories of potential energy remain constant. In the table below are given the results of the analyses of California cattle foods, so far obtained, and also for the purpose of comparison, the analyses of some of the same food materials, taken mainly from Ex- periment Station Bulletin No. 11, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, by E. H. Jenkins, Ph. D., and L. Winton, Ph. B. All of the samples of California fodders examined were sent by Mr. W. P. A. Brewer, of San Mateo, except the Lathyrus sylvestris grown on the University grounds, and the two specimens of wild hay from the land of Mr. J. W. Shanklin, Lassen County. In Bulletin No. 99, just issued, the green fodder Lathyrus sylvestris was fully de- scribed. It differs slightly in composition from the sample grown and analyzed in England, in that it has more protein, but less fat and nitrcgen free extract than is found in the English specimen, this being due, in all probability, as has been stated, to the different stages at which the plants were cut. It is a very valuable forage plant, and a better appreciation of its nutritive value will be had by comparing it, in the form of hay, with the first- quality oat hay. It will be seen from the table that it contains 20. 16 per cent of crude protein, which is about two and one-half times as much as found in the oat hay. The crude fat per- centage is also much higher, as indicated by the figures 4 02 as against 2.80 for the oat hay. An inspection of the amounts di- gestible in the two foods renders the con- trast still more striking, for the reason that in the vetches, to which the Lathyrus sylvestris (flat pea) belongs, the digestion coefficients of protein and fat are greater than in the case of oat hay. There are in every hundred pounds of the Lathyrus sylvestris 15.32 pounds digestible protein, beiog more than three times the amount (4.74 pounds) contained in every hundred pounds of oat hay. The digestible fat, 2.41, is nearly double 1.34, the figure for the oat hay. The nutritive ratio is very much closer than that of the oat hay. In the Lathyrus sylvestris there is one part of COMPOSITION OF THE FODDERS. GREEN FODDERS. Lathyrua sylvestria (Cal.) Lathyrus sylvestris ( Kngland) HAY. Lathyrus eylvestris (Oal.) Oat Hay, first quality (Cal.) Oat Hay, second quality (Cal.) Oat Hay (Eastern) Alfalfa Hay (Oal.) Alfalfa Hay (Eastern) Burr Clover Hay (Cal.) Wi d Hay, Kleocharis palustria (Oal.) Wild Hay. Atropis Californica (Cal.) BY-PRODUCTS AND MEALS. Wheat Middlings (Cal.) Wheat Midd mgs (Cal ) Wheat Middlings (Eastern) Wheat Bran (Cal.) Wheat Bran (Cal.) Wheat Bran (Eastern). Linseed Meal, old process (Oal.) ...... Linseed Meal, old process (Eastern).. ORIGINAL SUBSTANCE. Percentage Composition. 63.48 58.63 10.38 9." 9.15 12.18 8.44 11.25 11.55 10.10 11.29 12.3b 12.10 11.06 11.97 11.91 9 35 9.16 3.18 3.09 6.75 7 24 6.48 5.06 7.41 6.91 7.66 6.82 4.01 3.14 3.29 6.42 6.44 5.78 5.22 5 72 8 18 7.44 8.31 6.57 8.85 7.96 14.28 10.50 5 69 5.3U 18.33 14.43 15.62 15.49 12.77 15.42 29.7! 32.93 9.76 12.21 24.05 23.85 25.75 28.17 35.12 25.01 26.19 22.27 27.34 5.55 4.15 4.60 8.57 3.28 •8.99 6 23 8.88 MS £3 is 13.77 16.58 47.91 48.54 44 71 44.92 51.18 4S.44 55.77 61.80 60.42 54.21 55.49 53.87 31.20 35.40 1.63 2.05 4.02 2 80 2.10 2.74 1.40 2.15 2.23 2.65 2.00 5.05 4.12 3.97 4.25 4.05 4.03 18.25 7.91 Amount Digestible in 100 Pounds. 6.23 5.r 4.74 3.74 5.04 5.9] 10.71 5 2 89 2.65 14.29 11.26 12.18 12.42 9.96 12.03 24.39 27. 0L .93 1.23 2.41 1.34 1.00 1.32 .67 1.03 IJ 1.06 .80 3.48 2.81 2.73 2.93 2.79 2.78 16.61 7.20 5.27 6.59 13.94 13 83 14 93 16 16.15 11.50 11 79 11.36 13.91 1.39 1.04 1.15 2.14 2.32 2.2; 1.25 1.78 H 1 Ms? II 2 t ■ i . o -~ if :?3 8.94 10.78 422 480 22.06 1.070 29.70 30.09 27.72 26.03 29.02 27. SO 31.73 30.03 42.94 47.58 46.51 41.74 42.72 41.47 22.77 25.72 954 949 968 92* 977 942 90C 901 1,231 1,262 1, 1,169 1,141 1,152 1,670 1,317 i: 2.4 1: 3.6 1. 2.7 1: 0.9 1:12.7 1: 9.4 1: 7.1 1:15 7 1:17.3 1: 3.7 1: 4.3 1: 4.1 1: 4.1 1: 5.2 1: 4.2 1: 2.7 1: 1.7 digestible protein or albuminoids for every 2.7 parts of non-nitrogenous matters, while in the oat hay there is only one part protein for every 9.9 parts non-nitrogenous. A comparison of the analysis of the first- quality oat hay (grown here) with that from the East, shows a close agreement as regards the ash, the percentages of which are 6.75 for California and 6.48 for the Eastern sam- ple, the protein showing 8.31 and 8.85 re- spectively, and the fat, the figures being 2.80 as found here and 2.74 for the Eastern specimen. The same general agreement is seen in the nutritive ratio and potential energy of the two hays. As might be supposed, the second quality, containing as it does more straw, will naturally have less protein and fat and more crude fiber than the first quality. The percentages being respectively for the protein— 8.31 and 6.57; for fat— 2.80 and 2.10; for fiber— 23.85 and 25.75. We must defer making comparisons of California alfalfa with that grown elsewhere until we have more analyses at hand, be- cause the sample analyzed consisted entire- ly of stems and hence would contain much less protein and fat, and show a far higher percentage of crude fiber than would a rep- resentative sample. It is to be regretted that it was not possi- ble to analyze another specimen in time for this publication. The burr clover-hay with its 10.50 per cent of crude portein and 2.23 of fat, constitutes a very fair fodder. The wild hays, Eleocharis palustris and Atropis Calif omit a, from Lassen county, contain very low percentages of protein, 5 69 and 5. 30 respectively, but an average amount of fat, 2.65 and 2.00 representing the amounts found. The nutritive ratios 15.7 and 17.3 are far from being desirable. There is very little variation between the analysis of the second sample of California wheat middlings and the average of 32 analyses of the same food material as it ex- ists in the eastern States. The protein percentages, 14.43 for Cali- fornia and 15.62 for the averages, and the nitrogen free extract, 61.80 for California and 60.42 for the average, show the greatest differences. The figures for the fat, crude fiber and the ash are quite close. The first sample of wheat middlings has a greater nutritive value than the second, in that it contains more protein. A comparison of the analyses of bran pre- sents a case of marked agreement between that of the first sample of the California sub- stance and the average of 88 analyses from the East, as is shown bv the following table: California Sample. Average of 88 Eastern Analyses. Moisture 11 06 6 42 15 49 8 57 54.21 4.25 11.91 5.78 15.4? 8.99 53.87 4.03 Ash Crude Fiber Nitrogen Free Extract Fat The exceedingly high per cent, 18.25, °* crude fat in linseed meal, is owing to the oil not having been properly extracted; it is more than twice the amount, 7.91, obtained as an average for the percentage of fat in 21 analyses, as taken from Bulletin No. 11 of the Department of Agriculture. The protein percentage in the average is somewhat higher than the corresponding one in the California sample, as shown by the figures 32.93 and 29.75, respectively. The crude fiber per cent, 6.23, and the nitrogen free extract, 31.20, contained in the California sample, are also lower than the per cents found for the same ingredients in the above-named average. The ash con- tents do not differ materially in either. It will be thus seen that so far as exam- ined, where representative samples have been used, the California products compare quite closely with those of the eastern States. M. E. Jaffa. Berkeley, Feb. 12, 1893.