School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses

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Author: Bond, Elizabeth Margaret × End date: 1999 × Start date: 1980 × Type: Masters Research thesis × Subject: Feeding and feeds ×

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    The rate of fibre digestion in ruminants
    Bond, Elizabeth Margaret ( 1986)
    This thesis presents a study of some aspects of the rate of fibre digestion in ruminants. There is a continued need for simple, reliable laboratory techniques for estimating the in vivo digestibilty of a range of forages. Tjandraatmadja (1981), a former postgraduate student in this school, developed a method for measuring in vitro methane production, but recognised that although his preliminary results were satisfactory, further evaluation of the technique was required before it could be used as a predictor of the in vivo digestibility of forages. This series of experiments was conducted to assess the reliability of this technique for routine laboratory determinations of forage digestibility. The first chapter consists of a literature review of some aspects of fibre digestion. A knowledge of the digestive process is required to detect the limitations in any laboratory assessment technique. The second chapter describes the utilisation of the developed method. Twenty forages were used in an attempt to establish the suitability of the method for a range of forages with varying anatomical structures. The rates of methane production and organic matter disappearance were assessed. The third chapter describes an in vivo experiment to determine the change in extent and rate of digestibility of wheat straw, due to its treatment with calcium hydroxide. The diets used in this experiment were assessed in vitro in the following chapter. This experiment was conducted in collaboration with two other postgraduate students in this school, Ir. Andi Djajanegara and B.T. Molina, who were studying different aspects of fibre digestion. The fourth chapter returns to the experimental technique described in chapter 2 to assess fermentation rates from a limited range of forages which. had been used in vivo experiments. The comparative in vitro and in vivo rates were established and the value of total gas or methane production as an estimate of these rates was investigated. This evaluation of a new technique has shown some possibilities for its use in forage evaluation, but there are still many limitations which must be quantified before it will become a routine laboratory technique.