A well-balanced ration for stock rats

Onde1·stepomt J uw·nal of T1 eteri11ary Science and Animal lnd1lSt1'y, rolmne

2,

Nwnber

2,

April,

1934.

A Well-Balanced Ration for Stock Rats.

By J. H. KELLERMANN, M.Sc.(Agric.), Ph.D., Agricultural Biochemist, Section of

Biochemistry,

Onderstepoort.

'l'IIERE

is undoubtedly no braneh of biology in which :;o much progress has been made during the last fifteen years as in the line of .!LUtrition, hut were it not for the extensive use of the albino rat (Jhts

nOJ'Vegicus al!Jinus)

in Ameri ca and Emope in connechorl wit1l nutrition problems much of the valuable knowledge gained so far would not have been available. At present the white rat i s u sed almost universally in most nutrition work that is of an exact and statistical n:tture; a distinction it certainly deserves because the rat is such an economical animal to experiment with in view of the fact that its size makes it possible to house a large number in a relatively small space, and to provide the nece ssary food at a low cost. MoreoYer, it also has a rel::thvely short life span, becomes sexually mature at an early age, its reproductive aetiYities are rapid, it is omnivorous and not at a ll fastidious "·ith its diet \Yhich can be absolutel y controlled , and what is more, it ran

easil~·

he standardized both geneti(·ally and nutritio11ally, a point which is of c·onsiderahle importan ce in nutri- tion work.

With the object of starting a pure-bred and standardized colony, twelve (eight females and four males) \Vista .t:

~ats

of the London

"train were imported in 1932 from the Glaxo Research Laboratory, T,ondon. At the present writing several generations have

alread~­

been raised from the original imported animals. These stock rats are hardy, active and very tame. They are housed in large cages in a room that is \Yell lighted, well Yentilated, clean and electrically heatec-l during the cold winter months. Clean shaYings are use(l for bedcling.

In looking through the litf'rature for a good stock ration , it wa s impossible to select one that wa;; (1uite satisfactory, in view of the fad that recent investigations on the essentials of a good diet made it dear that the normal rati ons of Steenbock (1923) , Waddell and Rteenbock (1928), Sherman a ucl Burtis (1928), and Bills

et

al. ( 1931)

C'all

a ll ce improYecl upon. 'J'he stock rations of Smith and Bing (1928), Moore and co-"·orkers (1932), Coward and colla bora tors (1932), :mel Bacharaeh (1933) are no doubt adequate in all r espects but they are not simpl e and uniform enough for our purpose. In this laboratory a suita hle mixtu

re containing all

the necessar y ingredients is prefenecl to their diets which a lso include fresh vegetables, meat and liver,

becau~e

Kon (1931) has shown t hat the rat is not a wise Re lector of clifferen t food constituents when offered separately.

16 G49

""ELL-nALA:KCED JLITIO:K .VOlt STOCK HATS.

The stock ration adopted in this laboratory i;; a modification of Waddell and Steenbocks' (1928) normal diet in so far as parts of the yellow eorn and linseed oil meal haYe been replaced b:v clrierl beef liYer, brewer's veast and calcium C'arbonate. It is a cln· romminutecl ration with the" following:----cDmposition:- ·

G~·oun d ~~lmY c~u . . . . . . . fi8 per cent.

Lmseed

Oil

meal . . . . . . . . 10 , rude case itt .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. 5 Dried l:i!·ewer' s yeast . . . . . . 0

"

Alfalfa

meal .. ~ .. . .. . . .. .. . :CJ

"

Butter fat .. . .. . .. . .. . ... ,-J

Beef liYer (dried at 70° C.) 2 Bone ash '' . . . . . .

1 CaCO" ... ... ... .. . ... ... 0·0

5ooltvh' chfbt't te, ~aCl ... ... ... ... .. . ... U·5

,, ,,

Fre,;h whole lllilk and tap water, feel separately, ad liln'tum rlail~--

'l'he uboYe ration has been in u,.;e now for more ihan a Year >~·i.tlt exc·ellent results. ()8 Per eent. of ihe litters "eig-lte<l

-tO

t.o

·GO

g-t nms n t n u ag-e of 2;1 clays.

A

11 the

1

i tters \Yere 1·ed uc·ecl to (i 011 the <lay of parturition as practiRecl hy ~1acy, Outhouse, Long an<l Graham (1927).

Beef li\·er was ili('Orporated in the ration bec<tu,.;e it h<ts been shown in different laboratories that liYer stimulntes foo<l r·onsUJltption and utilization, general g-l'Owth and bd::~tion. [Osbome and ~lendel

(Hl26), Evans and. Bun (1927), ~lapson (1932), Seegers and ~mith

(19:32), Graham and Griffith (190:1). :';eeg-erH au<l Smith (1()3:~),

anrl Bains (1933).] \Yhether linr owes its aboYe qualities to its hig-h vitamin B2 content (Cuha, 1 9:H, Chaham ancl Griffith, 1930) or to some Yet unkno"·n essenti::~l clietarY fart01· rem::~ins to be ;:;een.

Hm,-e,·er, ILu-rer and \". Euler (1():1;3) kt\·e ~lumn rec·ently that a Yitnmiu B₂ extract hom liver po;;se,.;secl remarkable gTo\\·th-promoting power ,...-hen fed to rats. ~eYedhele;;~, by the arlrlition of f) per cent.

bre\Yer'~ yeast, tbe aboYe ration is also well supplied with the vitnmin 1J c·omplex. The aclrlition of yeast wa,; c-onsidered nr<·essary in Yie"·

of the fart that the results of )la<-~- l't ol. (1927), EYaJJS ::~nd Bun (1928), ~ure, l'f rd. (1929) and ('layton (U);~O) Rho\\· that liUl'Riltg- rnts neecl an abundant supply of Yitamin B if sur·c·essful lactation i;.; t·o take plac-e. The yea,;t is obtained from the Cnstle Brewery, .Juh::~n­

nesl~urg, in a rlr:v <·on1merei::~l form. lt I'Ontains 'j ·2 per ('f'll!. nitmgen atHl has been fouud effeC'!iYe in airling grmdh ancl pre\·enting poly- neuritis when addecl at a f) per c·ent. leYel to a Yitami11 H-free ration.

The fat soluble vitamins A,

D

anrl E are also presellt in optimum amount-s. As a mnlt-er of 'ad the ration is too riclt in Yitamin A when tlte voung- animal;; are to be userl for the ass::~v nf this vitamin.

Of c·ourt>e,· in assa:yi ng Yitamin .-\. it is always bette;· to reg-ulate firr;t the t>t01·ag-e of thi,.; vitamin in the aminals either bY the method of Nelson (1928) or that. of Garrett ancl )Iitrhell (1931) before theY are put on the experimental rations. Yitalllin C, although not ex.::~rtly nec-essary in the diet of the

1·at.,

is supplied in the fresh whole milk.

* The bone ash \\"as prepared by a,;hing commercial hone meal in an electric muffie at a bright red heat until a nice white ash 11·as obtained. The ash \\"as then ground to a fine po\nler in a large iron mortar.

650

J. H. I\:ELJ.EitMANX.

The alfalfa meal , i

n

aJditiou to c-ontaining an apparent ne\Y growth- :-:timulating- betor as shmYn by )Jason (1!)28), also serYes as a good nmghage.

The erude fibre (determined by Mr. Roets), ash and protein (total

N -N in yeast x

G · 25) c·ontents of the ration are 4 · 5, 3 · 72 and 15·G9 per cent. respectively. The nitrogen of the yeast was not calculated as protein-nitrogen in Yiew of the fact that Still and Koch (1928) \\·hen measuring by )1itehell's method the biological values of diets containing one half of the nitrogen from yeast and one half hom casein (total N

=

2·9 per cent.) found little

supplementar~'

relation between the two proteins. The distribution of food

energ~·

wht>n expresst>d in terms of pen

:entages

of the total energy* of the ration is: c-arbohydrates 68·2, fats 15·0 and protein 1G·8.

Approximately G5 per cent. of the protein came from plant and :15 per cent. from animal sources.

It ·will

be seen that the protein content (16·8 per

~.:ent.)

of the ration falls behYeen 14 an<l18 per c·eut., the range in which Slonaker (1931), (19:1la), (1901b), (19;Hc), (19!11d), (19:11e), obtained the best results for g-rowth, reproduction

,

artivity, etc., when taken as a whole. Bing and

co-workers

(1932) believe that the protein requirements of the mouse are certainl. \·

fulfillerl by rliets containing- 15 ·

(j

per cent. protein

(casein),

and that the p1·otein requirements of rats and mice are nearly the

same.

The eal<·ium, phosphorus and magnesium contents are 0 · Gl, 0 · 44

a ncl 0 ·1G

per cent. respectively, with a Ca : P ratio of 1

·

!19 which porportion has bePn found by Simmollds (l924),Bethke and Edgington (1!)27), and Bethke, Edgington and Kick (19aa) to be the optimum or near optimum for the rat and for pigs. In a more 1·ecent paper by Bethke, Kif'k and \Yilder (19a2) further evidennce is g-iven that

n

Ca :

P

ration between 2 · 00

and

1· 00 i;; the most favourable for growt

b and

bone formatiou in the rat. 'The incline content is 3:1

y

p!'r 100 grams of ration as detenuine<l by Dr. Blorn (1!)33)

\Yho~e

co-opera- tion is appreciated.

SU)HfARY.

A dry comminuted ration for

stock rats is described whirh

is consirlered to be "·ell balanced and adequate in all respects.

It f'Oll-

tains 68 · 2 carhohyclrateR, 15 · 0 fats and 16 · 8 protein expressed in terms of peneutages of the total calories yielded by the ration. Its ash, calcium and phosphorus contents are il·72, O·G1 and 0·44 per f'en t. respectively with

a

Ca : P ratio of 1 · 89.

LITEHAlTHE CITED.

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Riochem. J., Yol. 27, pp. 5-16.

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BJ<;THKE,

n. )[..

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* Total calories include those derived from yenst and alf.alfa meal.

""ELL-BAJ"ANCED RATlON FOH STOCK RATS.

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(1931). A Critique of the Line Test for Yitilmin D. .T. niol. Chew., Vol. 90, pp. 619-6:~6.

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1, pp. 12B-130.

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24.

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740-743.

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Physiol., Vol. 104, pp. 608-614.

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MOORE, C. U., PLYMATE, H. B., ANDREW, B. J., Al\D WHITE, V. (1932).

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(1931n) (19:Jlr.)

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lY. Heproduction. lbid., pp. 322-328.

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vr.

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