Prediction of nylon bag degradation characteristics of grass samples with the gas production technique

✍ Scribed by Cone, John W; Van Gelder, Antonie H; Valk, Henk

• Book ID: 101224330
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 182 KB
• Volume: 77
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0010(199807)77:3<421::aid-jsfa64>3.0.co;2-9

✦ Synopsis

Samples were taken from grass (L olium perenne) fertilised with di †erent N-levels, varying from 150 to 450 kg N ha~1 per year and harvested from late spring to late summer. Degradation characteristics and kinetics were determined both in situ, using the nylon bag technique and in vitro, using the gas production technique. With both techniques, the rate of degradation of the high fertilised grass was higher than of the low fertilised grass. Also, with both techniques, the rate of degradation of grass cut in late summer was higher than that of grass cut in late spring or early summer. The degradation rate of organic matter and (k d ) of the NDF fraction, measured with the nylon bag technique, could be estimated (R2 \ 0É87 [ 0É89) from gas production parameters. Also the amount of fermentable organic matter (FOM) could be estimated accurately (R2 \ 0É93 [ 0É96) from gas production parameters. It is concluded that the gas production technique and the used curve Ðt model o †ers a cheap, fast and accurate alternative for estimating feeding values of grass with the nylon bag technique.

1998 SCI.