Arash Azarfar: "Fractions of Ruminant Feeds: kinetics of degradation in vitro"

Characterising the degradative behaviour of some ruminant feeds using the in vitro gas production technique

The degradative behaviour of some (un)processed concentrate ingredients (barley, maize, milo, lupins, peas and faba beans) were studied in detail using a new fractionation method that fractionates the feeds into its inherent fractions (non-washable, NWF; insoluble washable, ISWF; and soluble washable fraction) in combination with the in vitro gas production technique. The aims were to verify if the degradative behaviour of SWF resembles that of NWF and ISWF, and how a thermo-mechanical process may change the contribution of  these fraction to the dry matter of whole ingredient, and how a thermo-mechanical process such as expander processing changes the degradative behaviour of these concentrate ingredients and their fractions.