[Methodological studies on determination of the digestibility of crude protein in chickens]

A comparison of various methods for the determination of the digestibility of crude protein in chickens was made. The chemical methods of dividing faeces and urine according to HARTFIEL and EKMAN were tried out, and a new method based on the determination of alpha-NH2-N was developed and tested. Colostomy of hens served as the basis of the comparison for the correctness of the chemical methods. The best approximation to the digestibility quotient of the crude protein according to colostomy was achieved with the alpha-NH2-N-method, which can to a large extent be well automated and can do without N-determination. Faeces-urine-N-separation according to EKMAN also resulted in a good approximation to the values according to colostomy.