The wartime expansion in the home production of grass, clover and other seeds raised the question of the value of such seeds as food for livestock, since during the later years of the war, surpluses that had been discarded on account of low germination or other causes were being sold to compound manufacturers for inclusion in cattle foods. During 1944, the writers made determinations of the digestibility and starch equivalents of the following seeds: ryegrass (a mixture of Italian and Perennial), red clover, lucerne and un-milled sainfoin. All the samples were reduced to a fine meal before being submitted to test in the digestion trials.

Apart from its lower content of digestible ether extract, ryegrass-seed meal resembles oats in respect of chemical composition, digestibility and starch equivalent. It is a carbohydrate concentrate, containing, on the dry matter basis, 69·4% of starch equivalent, including 7·3% of digestible protein.