Valutazione in vitro della digeribilità dell’NDF: confronto fra laboratori

Neutral Detergent Fiber digestibility (NDFd) is an important parameter of forage quality because it influences animal performance. Forage NDF varies widely in its degradability depending from species, agronomic condition and maturity stage. Beneficial effects of NDFd on feed intake and milk yield has created demand for analytical services by forage testing laboratories and for recommendation for utilizing NDFd information. Determination of NDFd in vitro is usually done using an adaptation of the Tilley and Terry Procedure. However, the main limitation of this method is due to its variability across labs. The objective of this study was to investigate the variability in NDFd determination between two laboratories, Bologna and Cornell University, in six hybrid corn silages, using the same procedure. Results showed that NDFd values, obtained in these two labs, is not different (P<0,05)