Single-grain experiment

In 1881, agricultural chemist Stephen M. Babcock returned to the United States after earning his doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of Göttingen, Germany to accept a position at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York where his first assignment was to determine the proper feed ratios of carbohydrate, fat, and protein from cow feces using chemical analysis.

His findings determined that the feces' chemical composition was similar to that of the feed with the only major exception being the ash.

This led Babcock to think about what would happen if the cows were fed a single grain (barley, corn, wheat) though that test would not occur for nearly twenty-five years.

Babcock continued pressing Henry to perform the "single-grain experiment", even approaching the UWAES animal husbandry chair J.A.

Hart previously had worked at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station and had studied physiological chemistry under Albrecht Kossel in Germany.

Both worked with George C. Humphrey, who replaced Carlyle as animal husbandry professor, to plan a long-term feeding plan using a chemically-balanced diet of carbohydrates, fat, and protein instead of single plant rations as done in Babcock's earlier experiments.

Elmer McCollum, an organic chemist from Connecticut, was hired by Hart to analyze the grain rations and the cow feces.

"This experiment made it clear that there were marked differences in nutritive values which could not be detected by any chemical means available at the time and that the current scientific bases for formulating rations were seriously inadequate.