AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

A digestion trial, comparing the digestibility of ether extract and true fats of feeds is reported. Rabbits were used as the experimental animals. The true fat fraction was determined according to the method recently developed by Horwitt and co-workers. The standard procedure (A.O.A.C.) was used for the determination of ether extract. The true fat content of a high fat feed (soya bean) was found to be completely digestible. In grass the digestibility of true fats was lower. This was probably due to the fact that the grass cell had a higher fiber content, which hindered the complete action of the digestive enzymes upon the cell constituents. The separation of the ether extract of feeds into fractions of high and low digestibility is suggested, in order to give a better index of its nutritive value.