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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Plant Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #169174
Title: FORAGE FIBER DIGESTIBILITY: MEASUREMENT, VARIABILITY, AND IMPACT

Author
item Jung, Hans Joachim
item RAETH-KNIGHT, M - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item LINN, J - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Submitted to: Nutrition Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2004
Publication Date: 9/21/2004
Citation: Jung, H.G., Raeth-Knight, M., Linn, J.G. 2004. Forage fiber digestibility: measurement, variability, and impact. Proceedings of 65th Minnesota Nutrition Conference. p. 105-125.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Recent articles in trade journals have reinforced the current interest in forage fiber digestibility as a factor that may influence animal performance. It is apparent that greater forage fiber digestibility can improve both feed intake and milk production by dairy cows, but the effect is complex. This is because of the multitude of factors that can influence the degree to which fiber is digested in the rumen, and interactions with other feed ingredients in the mixed diets fed to dairy cows. Perhaps the most critical point to remember is that fiber digestibility is not constant for a forage sample. Therefore, digestibility estimates acquired from in vivo or in vitro measurements must be considered as relative values constrained by the conditions under which the data were obtained. Because forage evaluation must depend on laboratory methods, it is probably most important that in vitro fiber digestibility assays be standardized so that they are easily and reliably repeatable among laboratories, and over time within a lab. Whether this can be accomplished using the traditional in vitro rumen fluid method is questionable.