Abstract
Samples of 56 hays (alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, bromegrass, orchardgrass, reed canarygrass, and timothy) with in vivo digestible dry matter (DDM) data were used to compare the following as predictors of digestibility: a) crude protein; b) acid-detergent fiber; c) acid-detergent lignin; d) cell-wall content; e) cellulose solubility in cupriethylene diamine (CED); f) dry matter solubility in 1.0 N H2SO4 (DMS); g) cellulose digestion in vitro; h) dry matter digestion in vitro (rumen fluid followed by pepsin). Correlations between in vivo DDM and laboratory tests for all 56 forages were 0.37**, −0.53**, −0.46**, −0.47**, 0.67**, 0.54**, 0.75**, and 0.88** for methods a) through h), respectively.Of the chemical components studied, lignin gave the most satisfactory correlations (−0.66 to −0.95) within forage species. None of the chemical components or solubility methods studied should be used to compare forages of different species. It was concluded that for estimation of in vivo DDM of all forage species and mixtures by one regression equation, best results could be expected with the two-stage in vitro digestion (Method h).
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