Contribution to the aetiology of synovitis in chickens. With special reference to non-infective factors. II.

The main purpose of the studies reported in the present paper was to test the theory that the tendon tissues of birds predisposed to synovitis, will show qualitative and (or) quantitative deficiencies. The tensile strength (TS) (maximum stress in kg/sq.mm. which can be tolerated by a particular tendon) was adopted as a parameter of the quality of the tendon tissues. The sectional area of a particular tendon per kg. of body weight served as a quantitative parameter. The results of these investigations were in accordance with the theory: the tendon tissues of birds predisposed to synovitis were found to be inferior to those of birds rarely affected with synovitis, both from the qualitative and from the quantitative point of view. These findings will have to be taken into account in future research programmes concerned with synovitis. Only to pay attention to infectious factors in the problem of synovitis means a one-sided approach which will probably fail to provide a definite solution.