1. This investigation into double scaup in hill sheep took the form of a series of field experiments combined with the gathering of incidental information.

The field experiments were designed to test the currently held view that double scaup is a ‘disease’ caused by mineral deficiencies (probably phosphorus) complicated by parasite infestation, which can be cured by the offering of, or treatment with, mineral mixtures combined with the use of anthelminthics.

2. The experiments involved the use of a proprietary mineral mixture containing feeding bone flour, lime salt and trace elements, freely offered in troughs. Phenothiazine, dicalcium phosphate and trace elements administered orally were also used. Vitamin D2 (calciferol) was introduced into the investigation following a suggestion by Innes (1934) that double scaup may be a form of rickets.

3. Statistical analysis of the weight records obtained from these experiments revealed no beneficial effect on weight gains from any of the treatments given. Field examination indicated that the treatments also had no effect upon the incidence of detectable double scaup in each of the flocks studied.

4. It was found that double scaup is not a condition affecting only poorer hill farms in the north of England and in southern Scotland, but is in fact an indication of the generalized thinning of the skeleton of vast numbers of young and apparently healthy sheep in these areas.

1. Over four breeding seasons (1952–6) field trials, involving a total of 2504 treated and control ewes of nine breeds (Romney, Clun, Suffolk, Cheviot, Lincoln, Welsh Mountain, Ryeland, Southdown and Hampshire) were conducted in an attempt to increase flock fertility by injections of p.m.s. hormone. The hormone employed was in three forms of preparation: purified, freeze-dried and whole serum. Dosage levels from 250 to 1000 i.u. were injected subcutaneously.

2. There is no evidence that the treatment affected the ability of the ewe to conceive.

3. A significant increase in fertility was induced by treatment. The extent of the increase apparently depended on the dosage level and form of p.m.s. employed, and was found to be affected by the normal fertility status of the sheep undergoing treatment. At any given dosage level of p.m.s. the increases induced by treatment were greatest where flock fertility was very low.

4. When used at comparable dosage levels, whole serum tended to be more effective in inducing superfertility than freeze-dried or purified serum. Freezedried serum tended to be more effective than purified serum.

5. 1047 injected sheep that conceived to service at the treatment oestrus produced 1898 lambs (1·81 lambs per ewe); 997 control ewes that conceived at the same time produced 1506 (1·51 lambs per ewe).

Section 1

1. A total of 189 ewes, of various breeds and crosses were used in slaughter experiments conducted in anoestrum during 1953–6. The ewes were of mixed ages, and included four lambs, aged 52–71 days.

2. Ewes received P.M.S. in different combinations with progesterone to induce co-incident oestrus and ovulation. Progesterone was employed in three forms, as a solution in oil, as a micro-crystalline suspension and as fused pellet implants. One hundred ewes were injected with the oil solutions, eighty-five with the suspensions and four received the pellet form of the hormone.

3. The percentage of ewes that came in oestrus (oestrous response) was higher in those treated for a 5-day period than in those treated for a 3-day period with progesterone in oil P.M.S. being administered 2 days after the final progesterone injection. The oestrous response in ewes receiving progesterone over a 13-day period was no higher than in those treated over 5 days.

4. 172 ewes' tracts were examined for ovulations. In those sheep (excluding the four young lambs) which came in oestrus, all had ovulated. Ovulation was apparently inhibited in some ewes which received progesterone in suspension form. The ovulation rate following treatment with 700 i.u. whole serum P.M.S. was higher than that where 750 i.u. purified serum was employed.

5. Forty-one of the ewes which came in oestrus were slaughtered 41–120 hr. after estimated onset of oestrus. Seventy-six of the ninety-two ova shed by these animals were recovered. 81·3% of recovered ova were cleaved. Of thirty-four ewes slaughtered 61–120 hr. after oestrus, thirty-two (94·1%) yielded one or more apparently normal fertilized ova. There was no evidence that fertility in the Suffolk rams employed in matings decreased to the point where it might affect conception in out-of-season breeding.

1. Fifty-five kids of the East African dwarf goat were used in the experiment. The kidding percentage was 107·8%, and the twinning percentage 12·7%; the proportion of twin births increased in the latter stages of the experiment, related to the longer period the late-kidding dams had spent on the rising plane of nutrition.

2. The percentage of female kids to total kids born was 56·4%, male kids 43·6%. The mean birth weight of female kids was 4·5 lb., compared to 5·2 lb. for male kids.

3. The sex difference in live-weight increase increased markedly after 16 weeks of age. The growth of females slowed down to approximately ½ lb. per head per week, whereas that of males continued to increase at the rate of approximately 1 lb. per head per week. H-plane female kids reached 33 lb. at 31 weeks, H-plane males achieved the same weight at 20 weeks of age.

4. The effect of plane of nutrition on the live weights of experimental kids of both sexes was statistically significant as from the third week of age. H-plane kids reached 33 lb. live weight at approximately 26 weeks of age, L-plane kids at about 48 weeks.

5. The kids initially placed on a L-plane of nutrition exhibited a marked resilience when switched to the H-plane. The live-weight gains after switching were for females as great as, and for males greater than, the gains made by kids on a H-plane of nutrition throughout the growing period.

This recuperative capacity of animals changed from L to H levels of diet, at or before the point of inflexion of the growth curve, has now been clearly established for all types of farm livestock examined, the pig, the sheep, the chicken and the goat. Both sexes exhibited this capacity to recover from initial low-plane feeding.

1. Two series of observations are described on the habits of grade and zebu steers in an environment where maximum daily temperatures did not exceed 74° F.

2. No signs of heat stress were found in either group and the steers used were able to adopt a reasonable pattern of behaviour and graze throughout the day like cattle in other temperate regions.

3. Under wet conditions the zebus reacted to the cold much more than did the grades and did so by standing instead of Iying down.

4. There were considerable differences in the amounts of water drunk and it is suggested that these differences may result from the steers' efforts to maintain a homothermic state.

1. The results of an experiment to study the effect of continuous application of ammonium sulphate, with and without f.y.m. in an alluvium clay soil for a period of 10 years on the yield of paddy and soil, have been reviewed.

2. The grain yield was increased significantly by ammonium sulphate in all the years except in the last two. The increases in straw yield were significant in all years.

On consolidating the results, it was found that both the grain and straw yields were significantly increased by the effect of ammonium sulphate. The grain yield was not increased by the effect of f.y.m., but the straw yield was increased by this significantly at 5% level.

3. The straw:grain ratio increased with the increasing doses of nitrogen.

4. The maximum grain yield was obtained by the combination of ammonium sulphate at the rate of 30 lb. N plus f.y.m. at 100 md. per acre. This combination was significantly better than f.y.m. alone, but was not significantly better than ammonium sulphate at 30 lb. N. On economical consideration at the prevailing market price level, the dose 30 lb. N of ammonium sulphate applied alone is the most suitable.

5. No deleterious effect on the yield of paddy or change in the composition, hardness and percentage aggregation in soil have been observed after a 10-year period of continuous application of ammonium sulphate in the same paddy soil.

In both ruminant and non-ruminant digestion, the nutritive ratio of a feed is shown to be very significantly related to the crude-protein content of that feed.

This confirms that there is a relationship between the total crude protein and digestible protein in a ruminant feed, and strongly suggests that there should also be a relationship between these two components in non-ruminant feeds.

The addition of essential amino acids to all-vegetable diets, so as to raise the biological value of their proteins to the level of animal-protein concentrates, has often been advocated in the past by animal nutritionists. This aim was frustrated in practice since it was impossible, until recently, to secure the necessary supplies at prices that would make such additions economical. Feeding stuffs with added amino acids are now being sold commercially. This is possible following the manufacture of synthetic DL-methionine and crude L-lysine monochloride.

It seemed desirable, therefore, to carry out investigations into the potential value of these amino acids to the pig feeder. This paper deals with the effect on growth, food utilization and retention of nitrogen of adding small amounts of lysine and methionine to the diet. An attempt is made to correlate the amino acid composition of the pig's diet with its rate of growth, the energy supply being adequate.