Abstract
Simple SummaryWe tested the Ankom DaisyII Incubator as an alternative to the in vivo procedures for measuring the in vitro dry matter digestibility of diets for rabbits. The results were variable according to the methods. Among those tested in the trial, the enzymatic one was more effective than those based on fecal inocula. We conclude that the Ankom DaisyII Incubator can be used to estimate the in vivo dry matter digestibility of rabbit diets, but the choice of the method proved to be fundamental for the reproducibility of results.The apparent dry matter digestibility of diets for rabbits was measured in vivo (ADMDvv) and in vitro with the Ankom DaisyII Incubator. Four diets were tested: low fiber (LF), LF + 5% of pregerminated fenugreek seeds (PGFS) (LF5), LF + 10% PGFS (LF10), and high fiber (HF). For the ADMDvv, feces samples were collected from 56 White New-Zealand × Californian rabbits fed the 4 diets; animals were randomly allocated into 4 groups and housed in individual cages. For the in vitro trial, 3 methods were tested: fecal inoculum (FA) with Kansans State buffer; fecal inoculum with artificial saliva (FB); and multienzyme (ENZ). Fecal inocula were collected at slaughtering from the distal colon of rabbits fed ad libitum the LF diet. For FA and FB methods, the digestibility was measured at 36 and 48 h. The in vitro methods ranked the apparent dry matter digestibility of diets in the same order as in vivo, but ENZ values were always higher than FA and FB at 36 and 48 h. The prediction equations of in vivo digestibility with the ENZ method showed higher coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.69) and lower SE (0.190) than FA and FB; also, reproducibility was higher with ENZ (CV = 3.1%). In conclusion, different methods can be applied to the Ankom DaisyII Incubator to study the digestibility in rabbits. In our trial, the better reproducibility was observed with the multienzyme method than FA and FB were probably related to the variability of inocula.
Highlights
The evaluation of feed digestibility is an important issue on which much research is focusing using different methods and techniques
The digestibility of LF5, LF + 10% PGFS (LF10) and high fiber (HF) diets were similar at 36 or 48 h of incubation; only for the low fiber (LF) diet, the digestibility with FA36 was statistically different from FB48
Zemzmi et al [44] found that the dietary inclusion up to 0.5% of fenugreek seeds gum did not significantly affect the apparent digestibility of main nutrients and main cecal environment traits, but it lowered the cecal pH and it can be used by the fibrolytic microbiota of the rabbit’s caecum
Summary
The evaluation of feed digestibility is an important issue on which much research is focusing using different methods and techniques. Ramos et al [2] verified the good accuracy of the multienzyme method used for pigs [3] to predict dry matter digestibility in rabbits. This method was based on three incubation steps with pepsin, pancreatin and microbial fiber-degrading enzymes. Pascual et al [7] compared the techniques of other authors [4,8] and found that the multienzyme method showed significantly better results Since this method has been widely used for digestibility trials in rabbits [8,9,10]
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