S. M. DAS GUPTA 263
It will be clearly seen from the table that the values for the autumn
(July to October—when the cows were mainly on straw and therefore with
little or no carotene in the feed) are decidedly low. The carotene content
varied from 3.8 Y. U. (average for autumn 1.9 Y. U. per grm.), Vitamin-A
from 1.2 B. U. to 5.6 B. U. (average—3 B. U. per grm.) and the Reichert
value from 21.2 to 28.8 (average—23.4 c.c). The values for the winter
samples (November to February—when the cows were fed with a large pro-
portion of grass from fields) are markedly higher. Thus the carotene content
varied from 1.4 Y. U. to 8.8 Y. U. (average for winter—6.05 Y. U. per grm.),
vitamin-A from 4.4 B. U. to 12.2 B. U. (average—8.15 B. U. per grm.) and
the Reichert value from 25.6 to 30.8 (average—27.65 c.c). The Iodine
values corresponding to these high Reichert values seem to be a bit higher
than the usual.
It is to be noted, however, in this connection that the figures either for
the autumn or for the winter do not closely agree as might be expected in
view of the more or less uniform diet during each season. From Table II
it will be noticed that the values for each month exhibit some width of range
tending to minimise the results in Table I. In the majority of samples for
each month, however, the values tend to oscillate within a narrow limit, the
variations may be due to accidental change in the diet e.g., ingestion of water
hyacinth during autumn, method of preparation of the butter, etc. The
average figures for the autumn and the winter seasons as given above are
however, markedly wide, forming almost two new series.
The experiments with an individual cow (Table III) seem to corroborate
the above facts and can be seen at a glance from the following table :—
TABLE XI
|
Month |
No. of |
Reichert Wollny |
Iodine value |
Carotene values |
Vitamin-A value |
||||
|
Range |
Average |
Range |
Average |
Range |
Average |
Range |
Average |
||
|
September . |
4 |
23.8—25.7 |
24.6 |
26.3—36.1 |
33.1 |
0.8—1.8 |
1.35 |
3.2—3.8 |
3.55 |
|
October . |
3 |
21.4—22.6 |
21.9 |
38.8—39.6 |
39.1 |
1.0—2.6 |
2.0 |
2.8—5.2 |
4.26 |
|
November . |
3 |
27.2—29.8 |
28.5 |
32.1—35.4 |
33.5 |
4.8—5.8 |
5.4 |
8.2—8.8 |
8.53 |
|
December . |
2 |
26.6—26.8 |
26.7 |
36.2—36.0 |
36.1 |
4.4—5.4 |
4.9 |
6.4—6.8 |
6.6 |
|
January . |
2 |
24.2—25.2 |
24.7 |
36.6—36.8 |
36.7 |
2.6—4.8 |
3.7 |
4.6—5.8 |
5.2 |
It will be evident from the above table that during the autumnal month,
of September and October, the averages for carotene, vitamin-A and the
Reichert value are 1.68 Y. U. 3.9 B. U. and 23.3 c.c. respectively. During
the winter months of November, December and January when the cow was
on grass the above values jumped up to 4.66 Y. U., 6.8 B. U. and 26.6 c.c.
C