Prediction of forage digestibility from some laboratory procedures. 2. Comparison of in vivo digestibility at two institutes.

Abstract

For part 1 see Abst. 1564, Vol. 40. 2. The relation between digestibilities of organic matter in vivo and in vitro did not differ significantly between the institutes at Hoorn and Wageningen. No difference was found in digestibility of the cell wall constituents in relation to the lignin content, nor was there a significant difference in the relation between the percentage of digestible cell contents and the percentage of cell contents in forage from well managed pastures. Twelve forages of highly digestible perennial ryegrass deviated from these farm forages at Wageningen, showing smaller excretion of bacterial and endogenous residue. Comparison of the 2 lignin procedures showed that 72% sulfuric acid lignin gave consistent residual standard deviations of digestibility of cell wall constituents; permanganate lignin gave smaller errors in forages at Wageningen but greater errors in forages at Hoorn. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)