INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENT AND ENERGY CONTENT, VOLUNTARY DRY MATTER INTAKE, AND THE OVERALL FEEDING VALUE OF FORAGES

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Abstract
The work thus far reported, aimed at establishing some index of the overall feeding value of forage, has been disappointing. There are so many differences in the nutrient makeup of different samples of a single forage, to say nothing of different forages, that it seems almost hopeless to arrive at a workable descriptive scheme based on detailed chemical analyses of their nutrient contents. Nutritionists have also been disillusioned of the value of the proximate analysis in this regard. All of these composition data may be informative, but quantitatively none of it consistently correlates with significant animal performance criteria. However, there is one response shown by animals to different forage samples of which every lievstock feeder is well aware, and which is related to his practical estimate of the quality of that forage. It is the extent of its voluntary intake. Present evidence does not indicate that the amount of a forage which will be eaten by an animal depends on any specific or fixed pattern of its nutrient composition. We felt, therefore, that it might be worthwhile to seek through a somewhat different line of reasoning the causes of such differences in preference. The studies herein outlined are still in progress, but we believe data accumulated to date support the hypothesis on which we are proceeding. Our two initial postulates are: Firstly, that the nutrients in a ration, and hence in a feed which may constitute the entire ration, are required individually in some minimum ratio to the available energy