Organic matter degradation of concentrate ingredients determined with the nylon bag and gas production techniques

Abstract

The nylon bag technique is the standard technique used in many feed evaluation systems for ruminants. As the rate and extent of fermentation can also be determined with the gas production technique, this technique offers a potentially good alternative. Cone et al. (1998) showed that there was a good relationship between rate of degradation determined with the nylon bag technique and rate of gas production for organic matter and NDF in grass and grass silage. The aim of this study was to determine the possibilities for estimating nylon bag characteristics and calculation of the amount of fermentable organic matter (FOM) of concentrate ingredients with gas production parameters.