Effect of Forage Amounts on In vitro Degradability, Fermentation and Methane Profiles of Seven Forages at Two Time Periods

Factorial experiments (exp) compared the effect increasing amounts of tested forages on degradability and fermentation profiles of seven forages during in vitroincubations with 40 ml of buffered RF (inoculum, RI) for 48 and 96 hours. This exp(7 × 3 × 2) involved 7 forages each of 3 amounts (Am, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g)for two incubation times (T, 48 and 96 hours). The main effects of F, Am and F × Am were significant (P< 0.05) for In vitro dry matter degradability (IVD) and In vitro organic matter degradability(IVOMD) which decreased with increasing amounts of forages. The fermentation profiles varied with the type and amountof forages and T. It appeared that the degradability and fermentation profiles of different forages were influenced by T and amount of substrate used during in vitro incubations. However, the changes in IVD and fermentation profiles were not proportionate to the change in forage from 0.1 to 0.4 g. Thus, the uses of 0.4 g substrate are proposed to be used for subsequent studies to rank a wide range of feed ingredients.