The control of variation in gain in animal nutrition experiments

Abstract

The cause of variation in the live-weight increase of animals on experiment has been further investigated. It had been shown previously that varying food intakes and initial weights-inherent drawbacks of the group-feeding method-accounted for much of this variation. When these two factors are rigidly controlled small differences in live-weight gains are still obtained. Evidence is presented to show that the basal metabolism and the digestive capacity of animals are for all purposes the same, and cannot account for any great part of the residual variation.