Small-Sample in Vivo Cellulose Digestion Procedure for Forage Evaluation

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Abstract
A procedure is presented whereby 3g samples of forage were suspended in nylon sacks in the rumen of fistulated cows and an estimate of cellulose digestion obtained. The per cent of cellulose digestion obtained by this method, when alfalfa hay was digested for 48 hours and Coastal Bermuda hay for 72 hours, was not significantly different than the apparent cellulose digestion coefficients obtained by conventional methods when compared by Student''s "t"-test. This procedure was tested on 8 different hays and a significant correlation of 0.83 was obtained when the apparent cellulose digestion by the small sample method and conventional methods were compared. Indications are that the small sample technique used with a regression equation might provide a valid estimate of cellulose digestion of forages.