The authors reported in their recent papers that the serious toxic action of castor pomace due to ricin, a toxic protein, may be almost entirely disappeared by heating at 125°C in an autoclave under a pressure of 2kg/cm², and also the treated pomace may be available as an ingredient of poultry rations, when mixed at low level of 2.5 or 5% in the total rations.
More recently, the authors, however, recognized some toxic action in the autoclaved pomace, when administered to chickens as an ingredient of their rations at extremely high level of about 40%. Therefore, the authors studied on various additional treatments to complete detoxification of the autoclaved pomace, considering on their practical applications, and consolidaded following three methods, i.e., 1) washing with water, 2) extracting with ethanol, and 3) washing with hydrochloric acid solution.
According to the biological tests, employing oral administration of the preparations to male chickens from 2 to 7 weeks of age as an ingredient of their rations, up to extremely high level of 40%, the detoxificating effects of all three additional treatments were certificated, and among them the first one, i.e., washing whith water, was recognized superior to the other two methods.
Some retardation of growth was observed in the male chickens receiving the ration including the preparations at 5% and 10% levels, although no detrimental effect was observed on the egg production in the pullets receiving the ration including the preparations at the same levels.
According to the digestibility test with 10 broiler cockerels, relatively low digestibilities were estimated for the preparations of washing with water method and the extracting with ethanol method, despite of their excellent amino acid compositions.
Considering on the facts, the authors concluded that the retardation of growth observed in the male chickens may be attributed to the composition of digestible nutrients, and not to the toxic action of the preparations.

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The administration of estrogen to the immature chickens induces the production of serum vitellin, which is secreted into blood stream from their livers.
Fleischmann and Fried (1945), McDonald, Riddle and Smith (1945), and others demonstrated the effects of estrogen and thyroxine on the fluctuation of serum calcium, phosphorus and fat in the sera of immature chickens. The authors (1954, 1955) reported the effects of estrogen on the production of serum vitellin in the immature chickens and the antagonistic effects of thyroxine on its production in the estrogenized ones. They (1961) also elucidated serologically the similarities of the antigenicities of microsomal and supernatant fractions derived from liver cells of the estrogenized ones with those of serum vitellin in the laying hen.
The present experiments were undertaken to clarify the histological changes in liver tissues of immature chickens treated with estrogen and thyroxine. The results are summarized as follows:
A. The histological findings:
1. The nuclei of the liver cells of the estrogenized chickens (Fig. 1-B) were hypertrophic and the chromatin particles in the nuclei were stairned light and localized periphery. There were many vacuoles in the cytoplasma of their liver cells. There found no such histological changes in the liver cells of untreated immature chickens (Fig. 1-A).
2. Histological findings of the nuclei of liver cells treated with estrogen and thyroxine (Fig. 1-C) and of those with thyroxine (Fig. 1-D) were similar to those of the second group (Fig. 1-B). No vacuoles, however, were found in the cytoplasma of the two groups (Fig. 1-C and D).
3. Liver cells of immature chickens treated with estrogen were histologically similar to those of laying hens (Fig. 2-B).
B. Electron microscopical findings:
1. There were many microbodies and large endoplasmic-reticulums in the liver cells of the control group (Fig. 3-A).
2. In the second group treated with estrogen (Fig. 3-B), few microbodies, small endoplasmicreticulums and many vacuoles were recognized in the liver cells.
3. In the cytoplasma of the 3rd (Fig. 3-C) and 4th (Fig. 3-D) groups, many microbodies, large endoplasmic-reticulums and no vacuoles were found.

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The disturbance of egg laying was observed following the insertion of a glass catheter into the shell gland at various stages of the shell formation.
The insertion of a glass catheter caused disturbance, such as cessation of laying, delayed oviposition and expulsion of shell-less egg, in 42 out of 71 treated hens. Types and frequencies of the disturbance were associated with the stages of shell formation.
Highest frequency of the disturbance was observed at the stage of hard shell egg and in many cases the hens ceased egg laying. Atretic follicles were found in these hens. Subcutaneous injections of pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin for 8 days. after insertion of the catheter prevented ovarian degeneration and induced the development of many follicles.

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The effect of adding egg yolk fractionated by chloroform-methanol (2:1) was studied with chicken spermatozoa stored 24 and 48 hours at 2°C.
1. The addition of freeze-dried egg yolk (50mg/ml) to a phosphate buffer containing antibiotic resulted in high motility and percent motile sperm but in lowered fertility as compared to a control (phosphate buffer).
2. The water soluble portion of a chloroform-methanol insoluble fraction was highly effective in maintaining motility and percent motile sperm but it lowered fertility.
3. The addition of a chloroform-methanol soluble fraction (50mg/ml) to a phosphate buffer had no effect on motility, percent motile sperm and fertility.

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Blood reduced glutathione levels and plasma protein constituents in annual molting S. C. White Leghorn hens were investigated.
Blood glutathione levels were determined by Grunert and Phillips' nitro-prusside method. Electrophoretic patterns of plasma protein were obtained by using barbiturate buffer (pH 8.6, ionic strength 0.06) and Tiselius electrophoretic apparatus of Hitachi make.
It was observed that the blood glutathione level of molting hens (81.5mg/100ml) was higher than that of laying (63.2mg/100ml) or non laying hens (67.7mg/100ml). In the plasma protein constituents, considerable difference was found among molting, laying and non laying hens. In molting hens, component 'f' which was characteristic in laying hens disappeared, β-globulin decreased and fibrinogen+γ-globulin increased comparing laying hens'.

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The heritabilities on the five egg productive characters of domestic fowl, namely number of eggs, average egg weight, weight of the first egg, age at the first egg and body weight at laying of the first egg, were estimated in the present paper.
Two breeds, White Leghorn (WL) and Barred Polymouth Roch (BPR), which were hatched and bred at four private breeding farms on the outskirts of Gifu City in Japan, were used.
These estimates of heritability, h²s, were calculated by the method of analysis of variance by Lerner (1950), and the standard errors for h²s were calculated by the method of Dickerson (1960), respectively.
Estimated values of heritability were as follows:
1) Number of eggs: 0.232±0.068 to 0.336±0.146 in WL and 0.065±0.042 in BPR.
2) Average egg weight: 0.197±0.065 to 0.665±0.168 in WL and 0.354±0.080 in BPR.
3) Weight of the first egg: 0.186±0.070 to 0.508±0.099 in WL.
4) Age at the first egg: 0.306±0.064 to 0.315±0.073 in WL and 0.386±0.077 in BPR.
5) Body weight at laying of the first egg: 0.325±0.098 to 0.544±0.117 in WL.
In general, the estimated value of heritability in BPR was smaller than the correspoding one in WL.
In the phenotypic and genetic coefficients of variation, there were no clear differences among these four poultry breeding farms in each character.

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The experiments reported in this paper were originally designed to find out the adequate level of supplemental methionine to the basal diets used for the various research works in this laboratory. However, the conclusions obtained by these experiments may be applicable to the practical formula feed.
Three types of basal diets were used in these experiments, which were shown with the main protein source in the diet, such as soybean meal diet, casein diet and amino acid diet. Parts of L-glutamic acid in these basal diets were replaced by DL-methionine in experimental diets. The contents of methionine and cystine in the basal diets were determined micro-biologically, using Leuc. mesenteroides P60 and Leuc. citrovorum 8081, respectively.
Soybean meal diet was composed with 43.3% of cornstarch, 44.0% of soybean meal, 4.3% of soybean oil, 0.4%, of L-glutamic acid, 6.0% of minerals and 2.0% of vitamins. Casein diet was composed with 53.0% of cornstarch, 18.0% of casein, 10.0% of gelatine, 8.0% of soybean oil, 0.5% of L-glutamic acid, 1.0% of L-arginine, 0.5% of glycine, 6.0% of minerals and 3.0% of vitamins. Amino acid diet was composed with 49.39% of cornstarch, 31.61% of mixture of crystalline amino acids including 12.0% of L-glutamic acid, 8.0% of soybean oil, 6.0% of minerals, 3.0% of vitamins and 2.0% cellulose.
Body weight gain and feed efficiency for two to three weeks of White Leghorn male chicks fed a diet containing 0.66% of sulfur amino acids, i.e. methionine+cystine, were almost equal to those of chicks fed diets containing 0.86% of sulfur amino acids. Linear relationship was observed between body weight gain and logarithm of dietary level of sulfur amino acids as shown in Fig. 1, when the dietary level was less than 0.66%. The sulfur amino acids level at the maximum body weight gain was calculated from the regression equation and treated as the optimum sulfur amino acids level, which were 0.65, 0.64, 0.65 and 0.69%, i.e. 0.66% in average.
Considering the fiducial limits of the data and the results of feeding experiments with practical formula feed, it is suggested that the adequate level of sulfur amino acids in the diet containing about 20% of protein and sufficient amount of vitamins and other minor nutrients is 0.7% for starting White Leghorn chicks, instead of 0.8% recommended hitherto.

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In this investigation we expected to get some fundamental informations on the pattern of growth of cockerels and of changes of body conformations during their growing period from hatching to eleven weeks of age. Observations were done under natural and experimentally controlled conditions. In the latter case, cockerels were fed on quantitatively restricted diet for one week during early or late stages, to retard their growth. Two hundred and ten newly hatched White Leghorn male chicks were used. Four different feeding treatments were projected; first group was fed ad lib. as control, the second group (Treatment I), was given the restricted feed for a week at one week of age, the third group (Treatment II), was given the restricted feed for a week at two weeks of age, and the fourth group (Treatment III), was given the restricted feed for a week of eight weeks of age. After the period of feed restriction, all the groups were fed ad lib. Random samples of five or six cockerels were dissected and measured to analyse the growth and effects of feed restriction and following recovery in full feeding.
1. Recovery from the effect of feed restriction for one week was partly achieved by an abnormally rapid growth. But this rapid growth did not continue for a long time, it disappeared before they could exceed the normal body growth in control at eleven weeks of age. In spite of their high growth rate and good efficiency of compensatory growth, they could not improve any feed efficiency.
2. Changes of weight or length of parts of body in final stage or normal growth were expressed as a magnification of their initial values of day-old chicks. Magnifications were 3.0 in the weight of eyeball, 3.5 in the length of metatarsal bone, 14.2 in the weight of the edible visera including the heart, liver and gizzard, 26.0 in the weight of vertebral column, rib and hip bone, 33.3 in the weight of tarsometatarsus, 34.3 in the live weight, 36.7 in the weight of bone on femur-tibiotarsus, 59.3 in the weight of muscle on femur-tibiotarsus and 272 in the weight of pectoralis minor muscle. The lower magnification, the earlier growth completes. Namely, nerves make most rapid growth in the early stage and they followed by the growth of bones and of muscles. Such growth gradients were also found among bones or muscles. For example bones and muscles of femur-tibiotarsus grow earlier than bone of pelvic limb and pectoralis major muscle.
3. Differences between the magnifications of length of metatarsal bone and of the weight of it show higher growth rate in length than weight.
4. Early developing organs such as nerves and bones have the priority to grow even under restricted feeding. Recovery shows also different pattern between parts of the muscles or of the bones. Late developing organs or the parts of the same organ are affected more severely by the restricted feeding than early developing one, but recoveries of the former are quicker than that of the latter. Muscles and edible visera are likely to be affected but the latter recovered more rapidly.
5. As treatmental group I, in which feed was restricted when their growth rate was highest, the effect of restriction was greater and severer than treatmental groups II and III where the restriction was practiced at the stages of lower growth rate. Treatment I was recovered slower compared with treatments II and III.
6. Dressing percentages of all treatmental groups were lower immediately after restriction and after a week than control, while percentage of the weight of head and bone of tarso-metatarsus, weight of edible visera to live weight were also higher than control at each period mentioned above. The fact that the visera take priority in growth among the other organs may be concerned with their own metabolic and nutritional functions to support the whole growth of organs.

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Artificial anus (fecal fistula) with Laying hens were used to know the digestibility and digestible nutrients contents with nine conventional feedstuffs, i.e. Linseed oil meal, Coconut oil meal, Cottonseed oil meal, Rape seed oil meal, sweet potato (raw), sweet potato (steam), milo, wheat bran, corn. The digestibility and digestible nutrients contents of feedstuffs were shown in Table 3-4.
Digestible trials on twenty kinds of formula feeds were conducted to know the reliability of digestible crude protein contents and TDN contents of formula feed calculated from the Digestible crude protein and TDN contents of ingredients. Average difference between the value given by direct measerment were 0.3±0.8% with digestible crude protein and 0.01±1.8% with TDN.

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In the process of development of early chick embryos, the changes which occur in the soluble proteins were observed by the methods of Ouchterlony's immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. Rabbits were used for prepairing the anti-serum against an extract of embryo in the stage of 72 hour incubation. Then, each sample was assayed with this antiserum.
1) The solution of protein was made from embryos of the following developmental stages, i.e., non-incubation and 16, 24, 48, 72 and 120 hour incubated stages. After addition of two volumcs of phosphate buffer (pH=7.4, μ=0.1), each embryo was homogenized. The homogenite was kept for an hour at a temperature of 0°C and was centrifuged at 3, 000g for an hour. Then, the soluble fraction of each solution was employed as the sample of the present experiments. The concentration of the protein was estimated at 40-55mg/ml in the samples from earlier stages, i.e., before the 48 hour incubated stage, while the concentration of the protein in the samples from 72 and 120 hour incubated embryos was estimated at 8-10mg/ml.
2) Under the condition in which the protein concentration was settled at 8-10mg/ml, the following two kinds of precipitin line were always observed except in the sample from 120 hour incubated embryo. These two lines could not be found in the latter sample at all. Namely, the first line showing no electrophoretic mobility, designed as the line-1 in this paper, was appeared near to the antigen well with a small arc. On the other hand, the second line (the line-2) showed the low electrophoretic mobility with a large arc.
3) The line-1 seems to diminish with the process of embryonic development, and it completely diminished at the stage of 120 hour incubation. At the stage of 72 hour incubation, the line-2 can be observed as two sharp lines whose electrophoretic mobilities were different each other, although this line have been indistinctively observed as a line having hazy outline at the earlier stages of incubation.
4) Under the following two conditions, however, the line-2 may be clearly separated into two lines even at the earlier stages above mentioned: (i) The immune reaction was carried out in a condition in which the protein concentration was high enough to form the complete precipitin, (ii) the enough time was given so that the immune reaction can proceed completely.
5) The authors assumed that the difference with regard to the appearance of the line-2 may not be depend upon the formation of new antigen units at the stage of 72 hour incubation, but it may be depend upon the change of relative amount of the soluble protein in the process of the embryonic development. If the concentration of antigenic protein reaches to the equivalence zone of antigen-antibody reaction, the line-2 could be observed as two sharp lines even in the earlier stages above described.
6) It is possible to consider that these constitutive proteins of the chick embryo, i.e., three precipitin lines obtained in the present experiments, are not stage-specific components, but may be common components shown throughout the stages observed. Furthermore, it seems likely to consider that they change quantitatively with the process of embryonic development.

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[in Japanese]

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