| Popis: |
It was proposed that the digestibility of organic matter (OMD) can be estimated from the relationship between total fecal nitrogen (TFN, as a % of organic matter intake (OMI) and fecal nitrogen concentration (FNc) through the equation: OMD = 1 - TFN/FNc. Two assumptions are critical to this equation, total fecal nitrogen (as a % of OMI) is a constant and does not change within a range of diet crude protein and fecal nitrogen concentration is proportional to digestibility of organic matter. The objective of this study was to test if total fecal nitrogen (as a % if OMI) remains constant over 3 feeding levels, and if fecal nitrogen concentration decreases with decreasing organic matter digestibility of maturing forages. Total fecal nitrogen did not change (P = 0.94) with feeding level, but increased (P < 0.05) with evaluation period. The fecal nitrogen concentration correlated (r = 0.60, P< 0.00l) to digestibility of organic matter. The results show that digestibility of organic matter cannot be estimated from total fecal nitrogen, unless time of year is considered. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v56i1_ferri |
