Digestion trials with swine: III. The digestibility of a coarse grade of middlings

Extract

In the foregoing communication on maize digestibility (i), reference has already been made to the early difficulties which arose as a consequence of attempting to make measurements on rations consisting wholly of maize and milk. During, the period in which a mixture of milk and flaked maize was being fed, the pigs developed constipation troubles, due, as subsequent results proved, to the almost complete digestion and assimilation of the ration by the animals. At the time, however, it was deemed expedient to alter somewhat the scheme of the experiment and to feed the maize along with a definite weight of coarse middlings. In this manner it was anticipated that the fibre of the coarse wheat offal would promote peristaltic activity in the intestinal tract and thus assist the passage of undigested food residues.

The introduction of the middlings into the experimental ration made necessary the determination of the digestibility of this feeding stuff. The results of this trial are given for convenience in this separate communication.