Nutritive Properties of the Seed of the Tobacco Plant (Nicotiana tabacum) 20

Abstract

Although every part of the tobacco plant has been reported to contain nicotine, this alkaloid could not be detected by Vickery and Pucher in the fully ripened seed of Connecticut shade-grown tobacco by chemical methods. 1 Ilyin, 2 who has studied the distribution of nicotine in the plant, found that immature seed, and particularly the ovules at an early stage of development, contained small proportions, but that, as ripening progressed, the alkaloid content diminished until finally none could be demonstrated. In view of the toxic properties of nicotine it seemed that a simple physiological test for its presence in tobacco seed would consist in feeding trials on small animals. We therefore offered to albino rats a ration that consisted either of ground tobacco seed 98%, Osborne-Mendel salt mixture 3 2%, or ground tobacco seed 99%, sodium chloride 0.5%, calcium carbonate 0.5%; cod liver oil was administered as a supplement at the rate of 10 drops per day. The diet was consumed with avidity and without any evident untoward consequences; the animals grew at a satisfactory rate and appeared to be normal in every respect. This somewhat surprising outcome led to a detailed study of the nutritive properties of the tobacco seed.