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Prediction of nylon bag degradation characteristics of grass samples with the gas production technique
Author(s) -
Cone John W,
Van Gelder Antonie H,
Valk Henk
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0010(199807)77:3<421::aid-jsfa64>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - degradation (telecommunications) , lolium perenne , organic matter , environmental science , dry matter , gas chromatography , zoology , chemistry , agronomy , chromatography , poaceae , biology , telecommunications , organic chemistry , computer science
Samples were taken from grass ( Lolium perenne ) fertilised with different N‐levels, varying from 150 to 450 kg N ha −1 per year and harvested from late spring to late summer. Degradation characteristics and kinetics were determined both in situ , using the nylon bag technique and in vitro , using the gas production technique. With both techniques, the rate of degradation of the high fertilised grass was higher than of the low fertilised grass. Also, with both techniques, the rate of degradation of grass cut in late summer was higher than that of grass cut in late spring or early summer. The degradation rate ( k d ) of organic matter and of the NDF fraction, measured with the nylon bag technique, could be estimated ( R 2 =0·87‐0·89) from gas production parameters. Also the amount of fermentable organic matter (FOM) could be estimated accurately ( R 2 =0·93‐0·96) from gas production parameters. It is concluded that the gas production technique and the used curve fit model offers a cheap, fast and accurate alternative for estimating feeding values of grass with the nylon bag technique. © 1998 SCI.