It is not intended to present a detailed summary of the many points arising out of this investigation. The following represents merely a brief statement of the field covered and the major features emerging.

1. Complete anatomical dissection of eleven wether lambs at approximately 4·5 months old and 40 lb. carcass weight and five wether hoggets at approximately 13 months and 60 lb. carcass weight provided material for a comparative study of the anatomical composition and characters of different breeds and crosses of which the individuals concerned were selected as representative.

2. In both lambs and hoggets this study confirms the picture presented by the statistical comparison based on carcass measurements of the same breeds and crosses at constant weight described and discussed in Part II.

3. The breed differences in the relative development of the different regions of the body and the relative development of the major tissues, bone, muscle and fat in different joints and the total carcass have been studied in relation to carcass quality.

4. From the differential development of the different parts and tissues of the body in the various breeds and crosses, the concept of early and late development as a fundamental factor in meat production is demonstrated.

5. The proportional development of the various parts of the body and its major tissues in lambs and hoggets is compared. Regions of an intermediate rate of development are relatively best developed in the hoggets. In the total carcass, bone has increased least, muscle only slightly more and fat most, with an increase in age from 4·5 to 13 months and body weight from 40 to 60 lb. This is in line with the order of the development of the tissues.

6. The differential effect upon differentially developing tissues of the plane of nutrition is advanced as a major factor influencing the relative differences between lambs and hoggets.

7. Variations, affecting the value of the animal for meat production, in the number of vertebrae in the different anatomical regions have been described.

8. The bearing of the many factors discussed and principles elucidated upon practical problems of lamb and mutton production has been considered.

The present investigation is the sequel to an earlier pig-feeding trial in which a diet supplying only half the standard amounts of protein supplement, in the form of a mixture of feeding blood meal, dried separated milk and ex. soya bean meal, was found to give as good results from the standpoints of rate of growth, efficiency of food conversion and carcass leanness and quality, as a diet that contained the full standard allowances.

It was considered desirable to repeat this initial exploratory experiment, making use this time of a totally different form of protein supplement, since the question of the biological efficiency of the protein supply might conceivably be of critical importance at the lower levels of protein feeding. In the present trial, therefore, the mixture of the three protein foods was replaced by a single protein food, namely, white fish meal. The standard-protein treatment C supplied 12% of white fish meal up to 90 lb. live-weight, 10% from 90 to 150 lb., whilst from 150 lb. to slaughter at about 200 lb. live-weight, the white fish meal was omitted from the diet, its place being taken by 5% of ex. soya bean meal. The corresponding allowances of protein food in the low-protein treatment B were 5, 4 and 3% respectively. The low-protein treatment A, which was introduced as a link between the previous and the present trials, contained the protein supplement composed of feeding blood meal, dried separated milk and ex. soya bean meal and supplied the same amount of digestible protein as was contained in the low-protein treatment B.

1. For both genetical and methodological reasons, tests for quality, in the majority of breeding schemes, are not required at the early stages of the breeding process.

2. Reliability and definition of any one empirical test is not sufficient to safeguard against losses of valuable material.

3. It is suggested, therefore, that as a rule agronomically promising lines should be carried on to a stage where comprehensive tests, using a number of selected methods, can be carried out, preferably over a number of seasons. It may be questioned whether a combination of such tests as the wholemeal fermentation and the gluten swelling tests (Pelshenke, 1938a) would suffice. In the light of the available evidence a testing system might be suggested comprising baking tests together with such “indirect” and, better still, “analytical” methods as will afford accurate information of an analytical nature.

4. This review of the testing problem suggests the conclusion that empirical tests are limited in their significance and reliability, and that only an increased knowledge of the fundamentals can afford a truly scientific approach. It should be admitted that the plant breeder, with his insistence on empirical tests where fundamental knowledge was lacking, has side-tracked the cereal chemist from the narrow path of scientific approach all too often. It is questionable whether this has been to the ultimate advantage of wheat breeding.

5. Inheritance studies on quality should greatly facilitate the task of the breeder. They will become feasible and valuable only when the nature of the desirable characters and the true significance of the testing methods are clearly understood.

1. Phytic acid in cereals and in certain rations based on cereals was incompletely hydrolysed during its passage through the intestinal tract of the pullet.

2. The percentage recovery in the droppings of phytic acid in a ration (24·2%) based on cereals plus extracted soya bean meal was considerable even when the ration included no calcium supplements. Both calcium carbonate and tricalcic phosphate greatly increased the percentage recovery. A supplement of calcium carbonate led to a somewhat higher recovery of phytic acid than a supplement of tricalcic phosphate containing the same amount of calcium.

3. The recovery of phytic acid tended to be somewhat higher in laying birds than in non-laying birds; this may have been associated with decreased amounts of calcium in the alimentary tract due to the demands for egg-shell formation.

4. The observations of Knowles et al. on the composition of the droppings of non-laying pullets on certain rations were confirmed; it was found, however, that their rule connecting the amounts of carbonate, calcium and phosphorus in such droppings did not extend (a) to the case of laying pullets, or (b) to certain other rations of wider Ca/P ratio.

5. The interpretation of the rule enunciated by Knowles et al. to mean that calcium and phosphorus are normally excreted by the pullet as dicalcium phosphate and calcium carbonate was shown to be untenable in view of the fact that the droppings may obey this rule and yet contain considerable amounts of phosphorus in organic combination.

1. An outline of recent investigations on the cause of marsh spot in pea seeds indicates that the disease is caused by a deficiency of available manganese in the soil.

2. The symptoms of the disease are very briefly described.

3. The methods of analysis used by the writers for determining the amounts of manganese in whole peas and in different parts of peas are described.

4. As no loss of manganese was found to result from soaking the peas in water for 24 hr., soaked peas were used for dissection in preference to dry peas.

5. Referring to the diseased peas, the highest level of manganese was found in the peripheral tissues of the cotyledons, followed by the germ and seed-coat. Only slight traces of manganese were found in the healthy and in the necrotic tissue from the centre of the cotyledons. All parts of the healthy seed were richer in manganese than the corresponding parts of the diseased sample. In addition, the order of distribution was different; notably in that the tissue from the centre of the cotyledon contained a higher level than the seed-coat, and the germ a higher level than the outer layers of the cotyledon.

6. A given weight of small peas proved to contain less manganese than the same weight of large peas selected from the diseased sample. The reverse was found to be true for similar size groups selected from the healthy sample. These differences in the manganese content of size groups suggest that peas of uniform size should be selected for analysis when the relative manganese levels of different samples are to be tested.

7. It is suggested that migration of cell contents from the necrotic tissue of diseased peas may partly account for the differences in manganese content of healthy and diseased peas.

An investigation of the metabolism of a number of Light Sussex cockerels has shown that there exists a rhythm in the metabolism during fasting amounting to about 9% as between morning and night observations, the former being the higher by the percentage stated.

Two methods were adopted to exclude the effect of variation in the activity of the birds at different times of day. In the first, the birds were artificially stimulated during the normal period of repose in such manner as to give periods of approximately equal activity by day and by night. In the second, the movements of the birds were recorded by a system of “point scores”, and regression equations were deduced from a large number of such experiments so as to make it possible to reduce the metabolism observations to a basis of zero activity.

The results obtained by these two methods of procedure were in good agreement with one another.

The metabolism in the standing position is 40–45% above that in the sitting position, a figure considerably above that for the increase of metabolism as between the lying and standing positions usually found in quadrupeds, while at the moment of rising the heat output may occasionally be trebled, but averages about cent per cent above sitting. The former of these observations is of importance in estimating food requirements as our experiments show that generally speaking rather more than 12 out of each 24 hr. period is spent standing when the birds are kept in cages. It follows that the sitting metabolism must be increased to allow for this when the figure is being used for computation of rations. The large heat increase on rising to the standing posture is of such short duration as to exert little influence on the mean metabolism over a 24 hr. period.