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Relationship of in Vitro Cellulose Digestibility of Undried and Dried Mixed Forages to Their in Vivo Dry Matter Digestibility^{1, 2,}

Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Wooster, Ohio

ABSTRACT

During the study of the value of the in vitro rumen fermentation technique for estimating the nutritive value of forages, it became of interest to compare the digestibility of the cellulose in forages in the undried and dried state. For this technique to be of use in studying the nutritive value of undried forages such as soilage and pasture, the samples used for in vitro trials should possess the same digestibility characteristics as the samples being consumed by the animals. Consequently, it was necessary to determine the effect of ordinary sample-drying techniques on the digestibility of cellulose in forages.

Samples for this comparison were available from another experiment in which three methods of utilizing a mixed forage (alfalfa-bromegrass) were being compared using dairy cows. The comparison involved both milk production studies and digestibility determinations, using the chromic oxide and plant chromogen techniques. The three systems of using the forage were green-chopped forage fed twice a day (A and F); six-paddock rotational grazing (B and I) and daily rotational or strip grazing (C and E).

¹ Approved for publication as Journal Article No. 111-61 by the Associate Director of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Wooster.

² The authors wish to acknowledge assistance of Mr. H. W. Scott and Miss R. A. Forestal during the conductance of these experiments, and the assistance in the statistical analyses by Dr. G. E. Weaver.