The influence of the difference in the method used for the estimation of thyroid function on the evaluation of the genetical difference among various breeds of chickens was studied. The methods used were (1) uptake of ¹³¹I of HIMENO et al. (1961), (2) ¹³¹I-release rate of OHNISHI et al. (1960), (3) thyroxine secretion rate of TANABE and KOMIYAMA (1960) (T.S.R.-I), (4) thyroxine secretion rate of MELLEN and WENTWORTH (1960) (T.S.R.-II), and (5) plasma thyroxine levels of ISHII et al. (1970, 1971). The chickens used were 7-week-old males of (1) Fayoumi, (2) White Plymouth Rock (WR-A), (3) White Leghorn possessing dw (dwarf) gene (WL-F-dw), (4) White Leghorn possessing DW gene (WL-F-DW), and (5) Silky breeds Another line of White Leghorn breed (WL-II) was also used for the measurement of plasma thyroxine levels.
The uptake of ¹³¹I by the thyroid gland was greater in the following order. Fayoumi, WL-F-dw, WL-F-DW, WR-A, and Silky which was the greatest, although the difference between WL-F-dw and WL-F-DW was statistically not significant. The order of ¹³¹I-release rate was reciprocal to the order of the uptake. In the T.S.R.-I, the order was the same as in the uptake, While in S.R.-II the order was the same in the release rate. The plasma thyroxine level was the highest in WL-II, and lower in the following order. Fayoumi, Silky, WL-F-DW, WL-F-dw, and WR-A which was the lowest.

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Possibility to use eucalyptus duct, which is a powdered product of chips of eucalyptus timber and is obtained naturally under shipment from Tasmania, Australia to Japan, as an adsorbent for fish soluble to make it easy in handling was tested.
Available energy of eucalyptus dust was determined by feeding experimental diets containing up to 21% of the dust in place of cellulose in low-energy standard diet to 7-day-old male White Leghorn chicks for 6 days. Twelve chicks each fed either the low-energy standard diet or a diet containing 21% of washed eucalyptus dust were raised further until 14 weeks of age. Then, 8 chicks each were selected at random, and sacrificed for the post-mortem examination. Weight of 8 organs was recorded.
Available energy of eucalyptus dust was about 0kcal/g, suggesting that the dust is unavailable and at the same time has no injurious effect. No evidence was obtained indicating that eucalyptus dust contains toxic or unfavorable substance. In contrast, feeding eucalyptus dust prevented perosis observed among the chicks fed the low-energy standard diet.
Available energy, gross protein value and availability of phosphorus of three products of a fish soluble, dried with cellulose as an inert control and with raw and washed eucalyptus dusts, were determined by bioassay procedures developed in this laboratory. Nitrogen-corrected metabolizable energy of the products was also determined using chromic oxide as an indicator. The highest dietary level of the product in these experiments was 22.22% with supplemental DL-methionine.
In these experiments as well as in the chemical analyses, no evidence was obtained indicating that eucalyptus dust reacts with fish soluble lowering its nutritive value.
It was concluded that eucalyptus dust is inert and able to use as an adsorbent for fish soluble.

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Faba beans is at present not usually included in commercial poultry diets in Japan. This is partly due to a lack of information on its nutritive value and partly because it is not available in quantities which would make its commercial use attractive. The acreage of faba beans grown in Canada is increasing rapidly and it is likely that the near future faba beans will be available in commercially worthwhile quantities. Faba beans if used in poultry diet formulations would probably replace corn-soybean meal mixture of equivalent protein content.
In the experiments described in this paper the metabolizable energy contents, protein digestibility and the value of including various levels of faba beans in rations for early chiok growth were determined for two varieties of faba beans samples.
Experiment 1.
The experiment was designed to determine the effects of different disintegrator screen sizes of 1mm and 3.5mm on the metabolizable energy value (ME) of faba beans.
screen, mm Kcal/Kg dry matter
Herry freya beans 1.0 2, 494
3.5 2, 217
Diana beans 1.0 2, 341
3.5 2, 133
The ME value of the faba beans increased significantly at the 1 percent level of probability as the particle size of the beans decreased. The difference in the ME value of two varieties of Faba Beans was significant at the 5 percent level of probability.
Experiment 2.
The digestibility coefficients of crude protein of Herry freya beans and Diana beans were, on the average, 87.3 and 87.9 percent respectively. The difference in crude protein coefficients of two varieties of faba beans was not significant. Effect of particle size on percent digestion was not significant.
Experiment 3.
The amino acid composition of the two varieties of beans studied match the requirements (NRC, 1971) of chicks closely except for the sulfur-containing amino acids and glycine. The content of critical amino acids of faba beans were compared with soybean meal. Methionine content was only 70 percent of that of the soybean meal.
Experiment 4.
One-day-old male White Leghorn chicks were housed in tier brooders and reared for one week on a chick mash of standard composition. They were then weighed individually and allocated to thirty groups of similar mean weight, each of 10 chicks. Three groups were fed on one of the ten experimental mash diets for further 3 weeks.
The pancreas from each was immediately excised, dissected free from fat and other material and weighed wet. Faba beans was fed as the replacement for 25%, 12.5%, 6.25% and 3.125% of corn-soybean protein in the ration. The experiments also attempted to access the value of heat treatment and methionine supplementation in improving the nutritive value of faba beans.
There was a indication of improved body weight gain with faba beans groups compared corn-soybean meal groups when methionine was supplemented. Heat treated beans as compared to raw faba beans in chick diets resulted in non-significant difference in weight gain, feed conversion and pancreas weight.
Faba beans was used succesfully as a replacement for 25 percent of corn-soybean protein in the ration, which were supplemented with methionine.

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In the examination of laying performance of chicken in fluctuating environmental temperature, the relation between the environmental temperature and lighting is not always disregarded. In order to investigate the effect of inversion of diurnally fluctuating environmental temperature on the laying performance in the same lighting condition, experiments were carried out three times with 240 White Leghorn hens in the environmental controlled rooms
For acclimation to the environmental controlled room, the hens were reared at 20, 24 and 28°C constant temperature for each three dais. Following the 9 days' acclimation, the hens were divided into two groups. One group was reared under the sinusoidally changed temperature of which minimurn temperature was 20°C on 2a.m. and maximum one 33°C on 2 p.m. (Hot in Light group). The other group was reared under the inversional condition; the maximum 33°C on 2a.m. and the minimum 20°C on 2p.m. (Hot in Darkness group). The room was lighted for 14 hours from 5a.m. to 7p.m. and was maintained with 70±5 % in the relative humidity in the both groups. Duration of experimental period was 6 weeks and feed and water were ad. libitum.
Egg production rate in the Hot in Darkness group was 2 to 4 percents higher than that in the Hot in Light group in the period from the second to sixth week. Egg weight in the Hot in Darkness group was 0.7g per egg heavier than the other group. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Feed intake per a day averaged 101g in the Hot in Light group and 108g in the Hot in Darkness, and it was significantly influenced by the inversion of fluctuating environmental temperature. Body weight gain in the Hot in Darkness group was 24g heavier than that in the Hot in Light. Strength and thickness of egg shell in the Hot in Darkness were improved compared with those in the Hot in Light.
It was revealed that the laying performance was influenced by the lighting condition under the same fluctuating environmental temperature. Therefore, it was suggested that the adversed influence of high temperature on the laying performance was surpressed by the hot environment in the dark period in the case of the Hot in Darkness and that the laying per formance was promoted by cool environment in the light period in the same case.

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An electronmicroscopic study was made on the thyroid gland of quail given the diet con tainning 0.1% thyouracil or not (a control), with special regard to the correlation between fine structures and function of the glandular cells.
Follicular epithelial cells of the thyroid consisted of columnar, cuboidal and squamous cells, which were transformable from one to another according to their functional states. The low cuboidal and squamous cells were the main epitherial constituents in the nomal group, while the columnar cells were usually encountered in the group treated with thyouracil.
The cokmnar cells in the group treated with thyouracil were characterized by the presence of abundant microvilli, rough endplasmic reticulum, large mitochondria and well-developed Golgi apparatus.
These results suggested that the function of follicular epithelianl cells of the thyroid gland was activated in the quail by thyouracil administration.

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The purpose of this experiment was to clarify the relationship between the serum vitellin producibility in estrogen administration and a few productive traits in laying hen i.e. the serum vitellin producibility was represented as b (the serum vitellin reaction regression coefficient) or b' (the regression coefficient calculated with the turbidities which was obtained from acetone precipitate of serum). Simultaneously, in this paper, the significance of the serum vitellin producibility at the viewpoint of poultry breeding was discussed.
Four strains (Rape, Forsgate, Thornber and Garber) of White Leghorn chicken were employed in this experiment, and the total of them amounted to 327 birds (about 80 chickens in each strain). Estrogen administration of 0.4mg in daily does was practiced from 60 days of age and continued for 10 days. Blood sera collected from the chicken every day were used for observation of turbidity, and the regression coefficients (b') were estimated from the turbidity individually.
Thereafter, they were reared for 4 months from the beginning of egg production and the records of egg laying were brought together.
The relationships among the b', the egg weight at 300 day old, the body weight at 300 day old, the rate of egg laying for 4 months after the first egg, the number of egg laying to 300 day old and the age at first egg were examined each other.
Least square means of each strain about the productive traits as above mentioned were estimated and Duncan's multiple range tests were employed to make all pairwise comparisons. The differences among strains for b' were non-significant, but significant in other traits.
The correlations between the b' and the egg weight or the body weight at age of 300 days or also the age at first egg were significant, and these relations became more evident from the estimates of the partial correlations among each trait. However, the correlations between the b' and the rate of egg laying or the number of egg laying were non-significant respectively. Particularly, judging from the modes of frequency distribution as a bivariate normal population in regard to the b' and the rate of egg laying, it was unable to be considered as a normal distribution on account of the remarkable decrease of frequency of hen above 75% in the distribution of the rates of egg laying, as compared with the b' to be accepted as the random samples from a normal distribution. But, a small number of laying hen above 80% in the rate of egg laying was observed near the mean value of b'.
On the other hand, the higher mortalities were observed in the groups showed low value in b' and the result of chi-square test was highly significant.
From the results as above mentioned and various results during the past ten years, the correlations between the b' and some of the productive traits were recognized. However, it was suggested that the serum vitellin producibility represented as b or b' had close relation to physiological function in individual chicken and was an available guide for the detection of normal chicken in physiological function.

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In order to investigate the effects of dietary excess methionine on growth, feed intake, energy utilization and plasma amino acid pattern in chicks, 7-day-old single-comb White Leghorn chicks were fed diets adequate and excess in methionine for 14 days, and then body composition and plasma amino acid pattern were determined.
Excess methionine markedly decreased body weight gain, feed intake, and efficiency of feed utilization. Body composition was not affected by feeding excess methionine, but the chicks fed the methionine excess diet retained significantly less fat, protein and energy than those fed the methionine adequate diet. Metabolizability of dietary energy was not altered by excess methionine, wheress utilization of nitrogen and energy was decreased.
Excess methionine drastically increased plasma methionine level, and levels of some other amino acids in plasma were also changed by excess methionine.

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Oviducal epithelial cells were cultured at 41°C and fowl spermatozoa were incubated together.
Spermatozoa incubated with the cultured cells decreased their motility rapidly in association with the degeneration of the cultured cells. When spermatozoa incubated with living cells throughout their life, the motility declined almost linearly and their life span was also prolonged.
These results show that living cells exert a favourable effect on the survival of spermatozoa.
This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education of Japan (156185).

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[in Japanese]

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