Discrepancies between Grasses and Alfalfa when Estimating Nutritive Value from In Vitro Cellulose Digestibility by Rumen Microorganisms

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Abstract
The in vitro rumen bacterial digestibility of cellulose in four grasses at two stages of maturity were compared to nutritive value indices and other measurements made by conventional in vivo digestion trials. The 12-hour in vitro cellulose digestibility compared most favorably with the in vivo measurements. Regression of the 12-hour in vitro cellulose digestibility of grasses on nutritive value indices resulted in a line which was described by Y=1.O87 X −15.94 (r=0.9S). When the data for alfalfa were included, the line was described by Y=0.814 X−5.91 (r=0.86). Both correlation coefficients were highly significant. When 24 and 48 hour in vitro cellulose digestibilities were considered, the correlations with in vivo measurements were quite high for grasses alone but much lower when alfalfa data were included in the analyses. Copyright © . .