258
Abstracts.
Rinderpest in game. A description of an outbreak and an attempt at limiting its spread
by means of a bush fence. A. D. THOMAS and N. R. REID. (1944). Onderstepoort. J. vet.
Sci. 20, 7-20.
A BRIEF review is given of the history of rinderpest in Central East Africa and measures taken to check its spread.
The authors describe an outbreak of what they believed to be rinderpest in game in the lake Rukwa area in
Tanganyika Territory where it assumed a state of epizooticity. The animals affected were wild buffalo, eland and
kudus. The symptoms and lesions as seen in these animals while suggestive of rinderpest were not very typical; but
subinoculation from affected buffaloes and elands into susceptible young cattle and goats proved that these animals
suffered from rinderpest.
The possibility of such game areas acting as reservoirs of the disease with the probability that it may spread to-
contiguous cattle or game, particularly in the dry season, is suggested.
A type of bush fencing about 8 to 10 ft. high, erected with local labour at a cost of approximately £40 to £50
per mile, is reported to be effective in preventing the passage of game from affected areas to the adjacent healthy
side when built with care and if properly maintained. [J. A. I.]
Dried cow manure and dried rumen contents as a partial substitute for alfalfa leaf
meal. J. C. HAMMOND (1944). Poultry Sci. 23, 471-476
T HE growth rate, mortality and efficiency of feed utilization of 1,680 chicks were observed up to the age of 6-10
weeks, with a view to compare the value of alfalfa leaf meal and several of its substitutes in supplementing a
simple wartime diet which was adequate in vitamin A and B 2 . The resultant rations were composed of ground
wheat (50.55 per cent), soyabean meal (35.00 per cent), alfalfa leaf meal or substitute (8.00 per cent), B-Y feed (2.00
per cent), steamed bone meal (2.00 per cent), ground limestone (1.25 per cent), manganized salt (1.00 per cent) and
vitamin A and D feeding oil (0.20 per cent). Cow manure dried at 21°C-160°C. and rumen contents dried at 47°C.
were definitely superior to the other substitutes and even to alfalfa leaf meal. When 2 per cent sardine fish meal
was fed a long with the latter, the performance of the birds was comparable to that of the chicks receiving cow manure
with and without the addition of fish meal. The androgen content of cow manure, which stimulates comb and wattle
growth, was apparent in the manure dried at 47°C. but was destroyed by slow drying at room temperature (21°C.)
and by drying at 80°C. or above in an oven. Rumen contents were richer in riboflavin than cow manure. It is
considered necessary to add vitamin A, and in some cases riboflavin, to the ration if these materials are used as
partial substitutes for alfalfa leaf meal. [R. M.]
The effect of fat upon the digestion of nutrients by dairy cows. H. L. LUCAS and J. K.
LOOSHI (1944). J. of Anim. Sci. 3, 3-11
T WO series of digestion trials were carried out to test whether different levels and different sources of fat had any
effect on digestibility and production value of the various rations of dairy cows. With Timothy hay and dried
beet pulp as the basic feeds, the differences in fat intake were adjusted by using concentrates of different ether extract
content.
In the first series of experiments the rations contained 1.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent ether extract. The results
of the feeding trial showed that this difference in fat level of the rations had no statistically significant effect on the
digestibility of the various nutrients except of ether extract.
In the second series, rations of different fat levels and sources were formulated by using several soyabean products
of varying fat content. Out of the six rations tested, two, (1) partially heated soyabean meal and (b) toasted meal
contained about 1.0 per cent ether extract, the other four (a) ground beans, (b) toasted meal plus soya oil, (c) toasted
meal plus corn oil and (d) toasted meal plus fatty acids contained about 7.0 per cent ether extract. The results
indicated that (a) digestibility of the dry matter, nitrogen-free-extract and crude fibre in the rations containing
ground soyabeans and toasted meal plus oil was lower than those of other rations and (b) the ether extract of the
high fat rations was significantly more digestible than that of the low fat rations. Amongst the high fat rations
again, the ether extract of the rations containing oil and fatty acids was significantly more digestible than the ether
extract of the ration con taming ground soyabeans. As regards protein digestibility, although it was lowest on the
soyabeans ration and highest on the ration containing toasted meal plus fatty acids, the differences were not signi-
ficant.
In regard to the effect on milk and butter fat production, the feeding of ground soyabeans caused marked in-
crease in the fat content of milk with practically no change in milk yield. On the other hand, the feeding of the
oils, or fatty acids, caused a marked drop in milk flow with little change in fat percentage. It was also found that
the production of butter fat and fat-corrected milk had no definite correlation with the actual intakes of ether extract
and total digestible nutrients. [N. K. A.]