In this study, Feeding apparatus were designed and used. Each apparatus consisted of an 80 cubic cm wooden frame, with the surface, the base and the two length sides, and 2 feeding batteries with 2 lots in the frame, and an airway frame and an electrical fan. Each of the 3 apparatus were placed in 3 rooms where the temperature was controlled at T₁, T₂, and T₃ respectively. For two of three apparatus, a wind of W₂ and W₃ for each temperature was blown against the front of the feeding batteries through an airway frame by a fan. One apparatus was used under a windless condition: W₁ without an airway frame or a fan. At the level of T₁, T₂, and T₃, it was kept at 24°C, 27°C, and 30°C respectively. A wind of 0.0m, 0.4, and 0.8per sec, at the level of W₁, W₂, and W₃ was maintained for the air intake velocity respectively.
Five hundred and four 3-month-old female quail were divided into 9 groups, accomodated in the above apparatus and fed for 7 weeks under 9 combinations of 3 levels of ambient temperature, T₁, T₂, and T₃, and 3 levels of wind velocity, W₁, W₂, W₃. This experiment was repeated 3 times under the same conditions. The data were analysed statistically as two-way layout design.
1) It was calculated that, from the area of outlet and the velocity of air exhaust, the ventilated air per min, per bird for the 0.4m of air intake velocity is 0.037m³ and that for the 0.8m is 0.112m³.
2) Under the condition of W₁, the egg production rate in the case of T₁ and T₂ was higher than that in the case of T₃. No significant difference between the rate of T₁ and T₂ was found. The rate in the case of T₁ decreased by causing the wind of W₂, but no further decrease was observed by further increase of wind velocity. In the case of T₂, no effect of wind velocity on the rate was observed. On the other hand, the rate in the case of T₃ increased by causing the wind of W₂ and W₃. There was no significant difference between the rate by W₂ and W₃.
3) Under the condition of W₁, the change of egg weight by temperature was similar to that of the rate by temperature; the egg weight was larger in the case of 24°C and 27°C, and smaller in the case of 30°C. The egg weight increased by causing the wind of W₂ in each temperature level, but no further increase was observed by further increase of wind velocity.
4) Feed intake decreased about linearly with the rising of temperature from T₁ to T₃ in each case of W₁, W₂, and W₃. The effects of wind for the feed intake in each temperature level were similar to that for the egg weight.
5) Feed efficiency was improved by the raise of temperature from T₁ to T₂, but no further improvement was observed by further rising of temperature. On the other hand, feed efficiency was lowered with the increasing of wind velocity from W₁ to W₃. But this lowering rate had a trend to decrease with the rising of temperature.
6) Water intake increased with the rising of temperature, and it decreased with the increasing of wind velocity.
7) From the above results, it is said that the wind in the case of 24°C brought about injurious effects on the egg production rate and the feed efficiency. As the wind of W₂ in the case of 27°C brought about benificial effect on the increase of egg weight without lowering the egg production rate, this condition is superior to egg production, but it is undesirable for feed efficiency.

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The present study was conducted to clarify the effects of vasotocin (VT), prostaglandins (PGs: E₁, E₂, F_2α) and ovarian oviposition-inducing factor (OOIF) on the contractility of the longitudinal and circular muscle strips obtained from different segments of hen's oviduct.
The oviducal tissue strips (0.15×1.0cm) were prepared from the hens 5h after ovulation and immediately after oviposition. The longitudinal and circular muscle strips were suspended in the same bath at 41°C aerating with 95%O₂+5% CO₂. The contractile movement of the strips was recorded using a strain gauge transducer connected with two pen recorder.
No difference in contractile pattern in response to the test substances was observed between the longitudinal and circular muscles. In the oviducal tissues from the hens 5h after ovulation, PGs provoked a contraction of the uterine muscles and induced a relaxation of the muscles from other segments of the oviduct. On the other hand, VT evoked a contraction of the isthmian and uterine muscles. OOIF induced a contraction of the infundibular and uterine muscles.
Generally, no difference in the response of the oviducal muscles to PGs, VT and OOIF was seen between 5h after ovulation and immediately after oviposition, except that PGF_2α induced neither contraction nor relaxation of the infundibular, magnal, isthmian and vagi-nal muscles and OOIF provoked a contraction of the isthmian muscles.
The results of the present experiment suggest that VT, PGs and OOIF may not be involved in an ovum transport through the upper part of the oviduct. However, all substances used here induced a contraction of the uterine muscles, particularly VT and OOIF elicited contractions of the isthmian strips as well as uterine strips and PGs provoked a relaxation of the muscles from the utero-vaginal junction. Therefore this suggests that VT, PGs and OOIF efficiently participate in the process of egg expulsion at the time of oviposition, contracting the uterus and relaxing the utero-vaginal junction.

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Using Bio-Gel P-150 which was equilibrated with ⁴⁵CaCl2, gel filtration chromatography was performed on the supernatant fluid following the centrifugation (38, 000g, 20min., 4°C) of homogenates of the shell gland mucosa of laying hens, and the ⁴⁵Ca-radioactivity of the fractions was measured. Three peaks of the ⁴⁵Ca-radioactivity were found. The third peak was the greatest, and disappeared completely when eluated with a 1, 000-fold molar excess of unlabeled CaC12, but incompletely when eluated with the same molar excess of unlabeled BaCl2 or SrCl2. In the period from 5 to 25h after ovulation, the ⁴⁵Ca-radioactivity of the fractions of the third peak showed an increase up to 18h, a plateau druing 18-23h, and a slight decrease at 25h. The quantity of Ca in the shell of the egg in the uterus showed a similar pattern of change during the same period, suggesting that the calcium-binding protein which is present in the uterus may be related to the egg-shell formation.

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Poultry rations utilizing maize as the main ingredient are commonly deficient in tryptophan. White Leghorn pullets producing about 85% of eggs were fed maize-soybean meal type diets containing graded leves of tryptophan: 0.066% (60% of the requirement), 0.097% (88%), 0.128% (116%), 0.221% (201%) and 0.721% (655%) in Groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Minerals, vitamins and amino acids other than tryptophan were added to the diets to meet the requirements. Group 6 was fed the commercial laying diet as a control. As a result, no significant difference in egg production was found among the groups in the first 5-day period, but thereafter Groups 1 and 2 showed reduced egg production. Egg weight of Groups 1 to 3 was decreased with the lapse of time, whereas that of Groups 4 to 6 was increased. Reflecting these results, the daily egg production on a weight basis decreased from the initial to the final stage, the difference between both stages being largest in Group 1 followed by Groups 2, 3, 5 and 4. Feed consumption was also decreased by the deficiency in tryptophan in the order to the extent of deficiency. The birds of Groups 1 to 4 lost their body weight, whereas those of Groups 5 and 6 did not. These results demonstrate the rapid ill-effect of tryptophan deficiency on the egg production and the absence of any ill-effect of tryptophan excess. It is suggested that the tryptophan requirement of laying pullets is more than 0.11% of the diet; should preferably be 0.17% as recommended by MORRIS and WETHLI.
The author thanks Mr. K. ASAKURA and Ms. M. KOMIYA for their technical assistance.

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It is well knwon that dietary xanthophyll pigment content has a direct influence on yolk colour of eggs. Some of the Japanese consumers has been complaining that most of yolks of commercial table eggs sold in the present Japanese market are too light in colour. However, little information is available indicating how dark the colour of the yolks is in commercial table eggs, or showing what is the colour of the yolks which satisfy the consumers complaining about it.
Results of a survey in 1968 indicated that the colour of the yolks in eggs sold in retail stores in Gifu area in Japan was, on average, 8.99 by Roche Yolk Colour Fan (RCF)¹⁾. In winter, the colour was somewhat darker, being 9.94, than that in summer, being 8.54. Another survay in 1980 of one of the authors²⁾ showed that members of Japanese Society of Food and Nutrition in Tokyo area was satisfied with yolk colour of 9.3 by RCF. The eggs tested in the latter survey were laid by hens fed a formula feed containing 18.0ppm of total xanthophyll in National Institute of Animal Industry.In this paper, results from a survey of the pigment content in commercial formula feed for poultry in Japan are presented.

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The relations among urinary excretion of dietary urea, metabolic one derived from arginine degradation and arginine and the effects of α-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) on these relationships were studied using adult chicks with an artificial anus. In chicks fed the basal diet containing a normal amount of arginine, the urinary excretion of arginine was negligible. On the day when chicks were fed the excess arginine (2%) diet, urinary excretion of urea and arginine was highly increased. The excess feeding of arginine for the AIB-treated chicks further increased the excretion of urinary arginine and undetermined nitrogen, but the urea excretion was significantly lower than that of the excess arginine chicks. In chicks fed the 1% urea diet with or without AIB, a significantly higher excretion of urea and undetermined nitrogen was observed than those in the control chicks.
These results showed that AIB has the following functions for arginine and urea excretion in chicks. (1) AIB supplemented to the excess arginine diet decreases the urea formation through suppression for kidney arginase activity. (2) AIB promotes the urinary excretion of excess dietary arginine by means of a depression of renal reabsorption of this amino acid. (3) When AIB is added to the 1% urea diet, this material gives no effect on urinary excretion of urea.

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Oxytocic activity of the ovarian follicles was investigated by measuring uterine contraction in vitro. Chickens were anesthetized and the three largest preovulatory and the most recently ruptured (R1) follicles were removed from the ovary immediately after oviposition or before ovulation. Each follicle was homogenized, centrifuged and the supernatant was added to the uterine strip in the chamber. Addition of the supernatant of the third largest follicle was ineffective but the first largest (F1) and the R1 follicles increased uterine contractions 2 fold. This stimulatory effect was not induced by the R1 follicle of hens injected with indomethacin 4h before removal of the follicle. There was only 50% increase in uterine contractions by the F1 follicle of the chicken pretreated with indomethacin. The supernatant of the thecal tissue of the F1 follicle elicited uterine response to the same degree as the whole tissue of the follicle whereas that of the granulosa tissue caused no increase. These results indicate that the R1 follicle may have prostaglandins (PGs) and that the F1 follicle may have some uterine contraction-inducing factor in addition to PGs. Uterine contraction-inducing factor of the F1 follicle may be predominantly present within the thecal tissue.NISHIO et al.: UC-IF of chicken ovarian follicles 125
We thank Mr. David Zadworny (University of Guelph, Canada) for reviewing this manuscript. This study was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid (Nos. 56480060 and 57560263) from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan.

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Chicks fed a diet containing single cell protein (SCP) as a sole protein source suffered from exudative diathesis which had been considered as one of the symptoms of selenium (Se) deficiency¹⁾. Later, it was revealed that SCP grown on a medium without supplemental selenium contained very low level of Se²⁾. Exudative diathesis in the chicks observed previously¹⁾ apparently due to the lack of Se in the SCP²⁾. Single cell protein grown on a medium with supplemental Se contained Se which was readily available by the chick^{2, 3)}.
Chicks fed a diet containing Se from soybean meal were suffering from encephalomalacia when dilauryl succinate was added in the diet^{4, 5)}. No exudative diathesis was observed among the chicks. Accordingly, chicks were fed a Se-deficient diet containing Se-free SCP as a sole protein source and dilauryl succinate as an encephalomalacia inducing agent to find whether both exudative diathesis and encephalomalacia are observed or not. Unexpectedly, exudative diathesis alone was found in the chicks while no encephalomalacia was observed. The findings suggested that chicks were suffering from exudative diathesis prior to encephalomalacia and those suffering from exudative diathesis showed no symptoms of encephalomalacia, though vitamin E is deficient in chicks' body. Another possible explana-tion was that SCP contains some unknown factor to prevent encephalomalacia of chicks fed vitamin E-deficient diet, although it is believed that SCP contains little vitamin E.
In this paper, preventing effect of various kinds of SCP against encephalomalcia induced by feeding dilauryl succinate are reported. Effect of fat-soluble fractions of a kind of yeast were also examined and is reported.

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