Dried Cow Manure and Dried Rumen Contents As a Partial Substitute for Alfalfa Leaf Meal

HAMMOND (1942) reviewed the literature pertaining to the synthesis of vitamins of the B-G Complex in the rumen of the cow and reported his experimental finding that the addition of dried cow manure to a diet deficient in riboflavin improved growth in chickens and was not detrimental when added to a complete diet. Alfalfa leaf meal is known to be a source of several vitamins but is used in poultry diets chiefly as a source of vitamin A and riboflavin. An acute shortage of alfalfa products in the spring of 1943 made the formulation of substitutes imperative. Accordingly a series of experiments was conducted for the purpose of finding combinations of feedstuffs that could be used in place of alfalfa leaf meal. EXPERIMENTAL In an exploratory trial it was found that when the 8 percent of alfalfa leaf meal in a certain simple wartime diet for chicks was replaced by . . .