Cross Breeding Cockerels (Black Rhineländers and Leghorn and Black and Speckled Rhineländer) were compared with pure bred Leghorn Cockerels. Deutsche Landwirtschaftliche Geflügelzeitung, 1934, Nr. 30.

The question of utility cross breds has been appraised in wide circles, and especially by beginners, as a matter of great importance in poultry breeding. The Institute for Veterinary Research of the Prussian Experiment and Research Institute for Breeding has published a report giving the results of an experiment where in a review is given of the fattening qualities of cross bred birds. The results of this research work proved that pure Leghorns are superior to Leghorn-Rhineland cross-breds and also to Rhineländer crossbreds, with regard to mortality, increase of weight and cost of feeding. On the basis of the results achieved by him and of those which have been published previously, and in spite of contrary opinions expressed by practising poultry breeders, the writer rejects the idea that the Leghorn has been surpassed in its constitutionally established power of resistance either by other breeds, which are not so extensively kept on big farms for fattening, or by cross-bred Leghorns. The qualification of the F1 crossbred as regards laying capacity is quite a different question. The experiment was based on quite other grounds but in view of what has already been published and on the basis of what the writer has experienced with other F1 cross breds, it can now be said that the F1 cross breds do not in every case lay better than the older breeds but that very often the laying capacity of the cross breds holds a medium place between the older breeds.

Growth of Chicken-Embryos. Das Wachstum des Hühnerembryos in Abhängigkeit von verschiedenen Temperaturen und Feuchtigkeitsgraden im Brutapparat. N. M. Schkljar. Archiv für Geflügelkunde, 1935, No. 5.

Summary:

1. 1. A completely regular and strong growth of the hen embryos is obtained with a temperature of 38.4° C. (101.1° F.) and 64% moisture.

2. 2. A temperature of 39.9° C. (103.82° F.) and 62% moisture have a somewhat depressing effect on the developement of the embryos during the first six and last two days of the incubation, an increase in growth taking place on the 16th days.

3. 3. A high degree of moisture of 77% and a temperature of 38.3 ° C. (100.9° F.) prevent growth up to the 18th day, a decisive increase taking place after this date.

4. 4. With a low temperature of 37° C. (98.66° F.) and a moisture content of 63%, the developement of embryos remains noticeably backward, specially during the first few days. Under such conditions, as early as after the sixth day, growth in relation to the control group is delayed by two days.

5. 5. Between the increase in weigth and the developement of embryos, there exists, in an early stage, an inverted ratio of dependance.

6. 6. The rate of growth of the internal organs is not a process working within itself, but subject to the general conformity to law.

7. 7. The growth of the embryo is not the result of an uninterruped developement, but consists of a sequence of increases and depressions.

Watch out for Free Fatty Acid. J. Bumgarner. Poultry Supply Dealer, May, 1935.

Experiments confirmed that meat scraps high in free fatty acids markedly reduced livability, feed consumption and rate of growth. Free fatty acids in themselves are not directly responsible for the injury, they do their dammage to the feed before the chicks eat it by inactivating vitamin A and D.

Recent contributions to our knowledge of the chemistry of vitamin A. M. T. Bogert, Jour. Chem. Ed., 11, 1934, No. 4, pp. 203–207 (Ref. Experiment Station Record, Vol. 71, 1934, p. 584).

The steps leading up to the recent synthesis of perhydro vitamin A by Karrer and his coworkers are reviewed concisely, as well as other attempts made to reach this same goal. The significance of ionene as a degradation product of vitamin A is discussed, and the synthesis of the former is outlined. The possibility of many vitamin A isomers is pointed out and the fascinating opportunities of startlingly important discoveries in this field of investigation.

A Study of Variation of Salmonella Pullorum. H. van Roekel. Mass. Experiment Station Bulletin 319, March, 1935, Amherst, Mass.

Summary and Conclusions:

From the experimental evidence obtained in the investigation discussed here the following conclusions seem justified.

Variation of characters of S. pullorum may be detected among freshly isolated strains, as revealed by 13 of 163 strains studied.

The behavior of the recently isolated variants in sodium chloride solution of different concentrations and in the presence of positive and negative sera differed greatly.

Such properties as colonial and cellular morphology, Gram-staining, and biochemical reactions revealed little or no variation in the majority of the derived variants.

Vitamin A determination, Relation between the biological, chemical, and physical methods of test. K. C. Lathbury. Biochem. Jour., Vol. 28, 1934, p. 2254.

This investigation, conducted in the Physiological Laboratories of The British Drug Houses, Ltd., was undertaken because of doubt cast by some investigators, notaby Coward et al, on the value of the Carr-Price color test, which is used by the British Drug Houses in describing the potency of their products. Six samples of crude liver oils or concentrates and a sample of the international standard were compared for their content of vitamin A by feeding experiments on rats, the Carr-Price test, and the spectrophotometric test.

Effects of different Brooding temperatures on Pullorum Disease. W. L. Mallmann. Vet. Med., Vol. 29, 1934, p. 254.

The author found the loss of chicks from pullorum disease in infected and mixed lots to be six or seven times as high in chicks brooded at 72° F. as in those brooded at 96°. The transmission of the disease from the infected to the uninfected stock was much higher at the unfavorable temperatures of brooding. The information obtained is considered to emphasize the extent to which unfavorable conditions lower the vitality of chicks and render them more susceptible to pullorum disease.

The Influence of S-compounds on the growth of Bacterium pullorum. S. Ito. From the Mukden Institute for Infectious Diseases of Animals, S. M. R. Co., Mukden, Manchukuo. Director: Dr. T. Kômura. Journal of the Japanese Society of Veterinary Science, Vol. 13, 1934, p. 207.

Having observed the fact that Bact. pullorum grows luxoriantly on Endo's agar, we sought for the principle of this culture medium, which promotes the growth of the present bacteria, and could ascribe it to the sulphur of sodium sulphite added to Endo's agar.

Report of work in avian pathology, etc., at the Iowa Station. Iowa Sta. Rpt. 1934, pp. 60, 61, 142, 143.

The work of the year briefly referred to includes studies of so-called “range paralysis” in chickens, by C. Murray, C. D. Lee, F. D. Patterson, H. L. Wilcke, and E. W. Henderson; the influence of various nutritional factors on blindness and range paralysis in chickens, by Wilcke, Henderson, and Patterson; transmission of so-called range paralysis in chickens through the egg, by Murray, Lee, Patterson, and Wilcke; breeding for resistance to fowl typhoid in poultry, by W. V. Lambert and N. F. Waters; and genetic investigation of resistance and susceptibility to disease in laboratory animals, by Lambert.