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Observations on the stability of rumen metabolism and their implications for experimental design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

J.A. Huntington  and
N.W. Offer
J.A. Huntington
Affiliation:
ADAS Drayton Research Centre, Feed Evaluation Unit, Stratford-on-Avon, CV37 9RQ, UK
N.W. Offer
Affiliation:
SAC Auchincruive, Ayr, KA6 5HW, UK
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Extract

The rumen in situ technique has been adopted as the standard method (AFRC, 1992) for the characterisation of nitrogen in feedstuffs for ruminants. Differences in the degradation characteristics of identical samples both within and between laboratories have been observed (Madsen and Hvelplund, 1985; Oldham, 1987; Kandylis and Nikokyris, 1991). These variations may relate to a number of variables including, cloth type, weave, pore size, sample preparation, basal diet of host and post-incubation washing procedure. Another of the possible causes of variation between similar measurements may be dynamic changes in rumen metabolism. Wilson and Briggs (1955) observed that the day-to-day variation in viable bacterial counts in animals fed a fixed diet was even greater than those observed with gross changes in basal diet. The aim of the present experiment was to observe the day-to-day variation in the rumen of sheep fed a constant diet over 18 weeks.

Type
Digestion and Rumen metabolism
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1994 , March 1994 , pp. 74
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1994

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References

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