Premium
The effect of drying temperature on in vitro dry‐matter digestibility and water‐soluble carbohydrate content of perennial ryegrass varieties
Author(s) -
Erin L Davies,
Wilkins
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2494.1998.00134.x
Subject(s) - dry matter , perennial plant , forage , zoology , chemistry , agronomy , food science , biology
In official forage grass variety trials in the UK, herbage samples are dried at 100°C or more to facilitate quick drying of the large numbers of samples that are currently needed. When assessing herbage quality, however, 80°C has been recommended as the highest temperature that can be used during drying without serious deterioration. Herbage from six perennial ryegrass varieties, which were known to show a range of variation in in vitro concentration of digestible dry matter (DMD) and water‐soluble carbohydrate concentration (WSC) during the vegetative phase of growth, was dried in an oven with forced ventilation at 100°C and at 80°C before analysis. Mean DMD over all varieties was slightly lower [6 g kg −1 dry matter (DM)] and mean WSC over all varieties was considerably lower (24 g kg −1 DM) at 100°C. Varieties differed in mean DMD over both drying temperatures by 37 g kg −1 DM and in mean WSC by 63 g kg −1 DM. There was, however, no significant interaction between variety and drying temperature for either DMD or WSC. Although drying at the higher temperature underestimated both DMD and WSC, it did not significantly alter the ranking of varieties or the range among them.