Bovine or equine faeces as sources of micro-organisms instead of rumen liquor in the Tilley and Terry in vitro digestibility technique for evaluating forages in Tanzania
- 1 January 1998
- journal article
- programme
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science
- Vol. 1998, 172
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0308229600033857
Abstract
Akhter et al.(1994) demonstrated bovine faeces to have considerable potential as a source of microorganisms to replace rumen liquor in the in vitro digestibility method of Tilley and Terry (1963) for evaluating temperate gramminaceous forages, under UK laboratory conditions. In view of the difficulties and costs of maintaining fistulated animals in tropical, less-developed countries, the present study was undertaken in Tanzania to investigate the potential of bovine faeces as a substitute for rumen liquor in the Tilley and Terry technique for evaluating local, gramminaceous forages. Use of equine faeces was also investigated in view of the prevalence of equines in some tropical countries. It was also hypothesised that equines, being hind-gut fermentors, would yield faeces containing more micro-organisms than faeces from bovines, with a consequent improvement in digestibility.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- A TWO‐STAGE TECHNIQUE FOR THE IN VITRO DIGESTION OF FORAGE CROPSGrass and Forage Science, 1963