236
Nutritional Experiments with Chickens
in Experiment 1 to a maximum of 9. 4 per cent in Experiment 3, is very satis-
factory. The majority of the deaths occurred in period 1 (0-4 weeks) and
these were mainly amongst weaklings due to errors in incubation or constitu-
tional defects. The food consumption and food utilization figures also com-
pare favourably with published figures [Card and Kirkpatrick, 1918 ; Charles
and Knandel, 1928 ; Kempster and Parker, 1936].
The results obtained in Experiment 2 show that it is advisable to feed
milk only to drink instead of milk and water during the early stages of growth.
During the early stages the group fed on milk and water to drink from day-old
onward grew more slowly, had an appreciably higher mortality and consumed
more food per unit of gain than the milk supplemented group. Though the
milk and water group from day-old onward grew faster during the later stages,
when both groups were fed on the same diet, than the birds fed on milk only
to drink during the early stages, the birds were lower in weight at all stages
and took longer to come into production. Further, the feeding of milk and
water from day-old onward did not result in any saving in milk, for over the
whole experiment the birds consumed more milk than the group receiving
milk only to drink from 0-6 weeks.
In Experiment 3, the basal ration supplemented with ground soya bean
meal and salt did not give as good results as the milk ration and the birds on
the soya bean meal were significantly lighter at all stages from 4 weeks onwards.
During the first 8 weeks the birds on the soya bean ration had a much poorer
health record, a higher mortality rate and made poorer utilization of the food
consumed. From 8 weeks onwards the food utilization figures in the soya bean
meal group were very similar to those obtained in the milk group. The im-
proved health record and the low mortality rate in the soya bean meal group
during the later stages of growth suggested that soya bean meal might be used
more successfully if the birds were fed initially on a milk diet and fed soya
bean meal during the later stages.
In Experiments 4 and 5, all the birds were reared on the basal ration plus
milk to drink from 0-6 weeks. From 6 weeks onwards, half the birds in each
group were fed the basal ration plus separated milk and water to drink and the
other half the soya bean meal plus salt ration. In both the experiments, the
rate of growth of the birds on the soya bean ration was significantly lower than
that of the birds on the milk and water ration. The efficiency of food uti-
lization was lowered and egg production retarded in the soya bean groups.
However, the health record was comparatively good and the mortality, though
slightly higher than that of the milk group, was low.
The better results obtained with milk cannot be attributed to a higher
protein level, for in Experiment 3 in periods 1, 2B, 3 and 4 the percentages of
protein consumed by the soya bean meal group were higher than during the
corresponding periods in the milk group. Similarly, in Experiments 4 and 5,
the soya bean meal groups in certain periods consumed approximately the
same percentages of protein as the milk groups.
The good growth results obtained with milk cannot be attributed solely
to the excellence of its proteins, for milk also contains other valuable growth-
promoting factors such as vitamins and minerals. Similarly, the poorer
rowth results obtained with soya bean meal cannot be attributed solely tog