Show grit only poultry feed that has no food value although grit has no definite food value in the poultry ration tests completed recently at the national agricultural research center by the bureau of animal industry sho showed that it cuts the volume of feed needed in making economical gains when fed with a mash ration or field feld peas the reason is simple and was discovered some time ago the gizzard serves as a grinding mill so that the chicken can utilize carbohydrates bo proteins and especially fats the insoluble grit in the gizzard merely helps the grinding process the value of grit was more apparent when field peas were fed this pointed to the need of grit when coarse and granular feeds knake up a large part ol of the ration field peas alone did not constitute a complete diet for birds in confinement although digestibility was sufficient to justify the use of the legume in poultry feeds despite having a generally lower protein digestibility than corn field peas contain approximately 60 per cent more digestible protein per pound |