Ruminal effective degradability of neutral detergent fibre in ruminants

Seven clover sampes (Trifolium pratense L.) were collected at three different miters A (n = 3), B (n = 3) a C (n = 1) during the growing season from 10th of May to 3rd of August. The samples were analyzed for chemical composition, gross energy (BE) content, in vivo sheep digestibility of organic matter (KS OH) and gross energy (KS BE) and in situ rumen degradability of neutral detergent fibre (NDF). The contents of ash, crude protein (NL), crude fibre (CF), NDF, acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) and BE were significantly (P {>} 0,05) affected by the date of cutting time. The averaged values were for ash 119,2 g/kg of dry matter, NL 197,7 g/kg of dry matter, CF 236,5 g/kg of dry matter, NDF 400,7 g/kg of dry matter, ADF 296,2 g/kg of dry matter, ADL 73,8 g/kg of dry matter and BE 18,2 MJ/kg of dry matter. KS OH and KS BE generally decreased with higher dates of cutting time. On average KS OH and KS BE amounted 72,4 % and 70,2 %, respectively. The effective ruminal degradability (ED) of NDF generally decreased (P {>} 0,05) with increasing date of cutting time with values of 66,1 % (May 10), 63,6 % (May 18), 59,2 % (May 25), 64,8 % (June 29), 57,4 % (July 7), 56,9 % (July 13) a 51,6 % ( August 3). In situ characteristics were in average 77,1 % for the potential degradable NDF fraction (parameter b), 0,0703 h-1 for the fractional rate of degradation (parameter c) and 77,8 % for the digestible NDF (parameter DNDF)