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A comparison of near infra-red reflectance spectroscopy with three in vitro digestibility methods to predict digestibility in vivo in cereal straws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2017

D I Givens
Affiliation:
ADAS Feed Evaluation Unit Alcester Road, Stratford on Avon CV37 9RQ
Jeannie M Everington
Affiliation:
ADAS Feed Evaluation Unit Alcester Road, Stratford on Avon CV37 9RQ
C K Baker
Affiliation:
ADAS, Analytical Chemistry Department Staplake Mount, Starcross, Exeter EX6 8PE
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Extract

There have been many attempts to use the measurement of cell wall fractions to predict the digestibility in vivo of untreated and alkali treated straws (see far example Sundstøl et al, 1978; Reid and Ørskov, 1987). All these attempts have shown this approach to have very low predictive ability for straws. Accordingly extensive use has been made of digestibility measurements in vitro using either rumen fluid (eg Sundstøl et al, 1978) or cellulase type enzymes (eg Jewell et al, 1986).

Whilst in vitro methods appear to be useful predictors of digestibility in straws, they are slow and relatively expensive. The work reported here has compared their predictive power with that of near infra-red reflectance spectroscopy (NIR).

A total of 123 cereal straws were used. These included 54 wheat, 43 barley and 4 oat straws all untreated and the 9 wheat, 9 barley and 4 oat straws oven-treated with ammonia previously described by Mason et al (1988).

Type
Ruminant Nutrition
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Production 1989

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References

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