Assessment of softness properties of feathers.
An instrument to be called the "Crimp Meter" was designed and used with a conventional balance to enable the plotting of a force-displacement curve for individual feathers. A comparison of the curves described by different feathers was made by regression analysis. The type of curve described by a feather is characteristic of its tensile properties and its degree of softness. This procedure was employed to objectively confirm the observation that chicks fed toxic levels of methionine (1.45% added) in corn-soybean diets had significantly softer (P less than .001) feathers than those fed nontoxic levels of cysteine (.203% added). The basal diet was analyzed and found to contain .35% methionine and .37% cystine. This device had potential for the down-feather, wool, and fabric industries.
Tsiagbe
V K
VK
Department of Poultry and Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706.
Cook
M E
ME
Harper
A E
AE
Sunde
M L
ML
D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003545:Cysteine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004032:Diet; D005241:Feathers / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects; D008715:Methionine / Q000633:toxicity; D013718:Tensile Strength
D008715:Methionine; D003545:Cysteine