Digestibility
Digestibility
• Definition
The proportion of feed which is not excreted in the feces and which is
therefore assumed to be absorbed by animals. It is commonly expressed in
terms of DM and as a coefficient or a %.
For example:-
If a cow ate 9 kg of hay containing 8 kg of DM and excreted 3 kg of DM in its
feces, the digestibility of hay DM would be:-
Digestion coefficient = 8 – 3 * 100
8
= 62.5%
Digestibility coefficient is calculated for DM, CP, CF, EE, and NFE. For ash
digestibility coefficient is not calculated since most of the minerals are re-
excreted in the gut.
Measurement of digestibility
There are 4 methods to measure digestibility:-
1. Direct method (digestibility trial)
2. Indirect method
3. Indicator method
4. Laboratory method
Direct method (digestibility trial)
• This method will be applied in case of:- the feedstuff can be fed
to the animal alone e.g. hay
• Precaution which is used in case measurement
digestibility:-
1. More than one animal should be used, firstly because even
when the animals of the same species, age, sex, there is
different in their digestibility and secondary the replication
allows more opportunity for detecting errors of measurement.
2. Selection:- male animals are preferred than female because it is
easier to collect feces and urine separately with male and they
should be docile and in good health.
3. Place o kept:-
a. small animals are kept in metabolic cages, which separate
feces and urine by arrangement of sieves (metal grid in
bottom through which both the feces and urine pass, the
feces being caught on a screen underneath..
N.B. More commonly used, the animal is confined so that the animal can not turn
around, and the length of cage is adjust to the size of the animal in such away that the
feces fall into properly placed container, the feed box is attached to front.
b. large animals such as cattle are fitted with harness and feces are
collected in collection bag (made from rubber or a similar
impervious material).
Precaution which is used in case measurement digestibility
4. For females:-special casseter which withdraw the urine
5. For poultry:- the determination of digestibility is complicated by the
fact that feces and urine are voided from a single orifice, the cloacae so
we can measure it by surgically or chemically
N.B. The food required for the trial should if possible be thoroughly
mixed before handling to obtain uniform composition.
Method of measurement
Record amount of feed
intake
Direct method Record of amount of
feces
Preparatory or precollecting
or preliminary period Experimental period
Take from 10 to 14 days and it may be 21 days. During Or collecting period
this period the feedstuff is given to the animals
before collecting feces due to:-
1. Accustom the animals to the diet
2. Clear from the tract the residue of previous food
3. Determine amount of feed intake
Experimental or collecting period
1. Collecting period is usually 5 to 14 days, with longer
periods being more easier as they give greater accuracy.
2. During this period, collecting the feces every 24 hr using
a collecting bag or metabolic cage.
3. Daily record of feed offered, residue left and feces voided
is maintained on 24 hr.
4. During this period representive sample of feed daily and
kept in hot air oven for drying.
5. After drying the samples are kept in bags where each
daily sample is kept so that at the end of collection
period all samples are analyzed for individual nutrients.
• Digestibility coefficient:-
Nutrient consumed – nutrient in feces *100
Nutrient consumed
For example:
An animal ate 20 kg of green corn contain 25% DM and
1.6% Protein. The feces was 20 kg contain 10% DM and
0.6% protein
Calculate the digestion coefficient.
Solution:
25 * 20
DM intake =
100
= 5 kg
20 * 10
DM output =
100
= 2 kg
• Digestibility coeffient = 5–2 * 100
= 60 % 5
CP intake =
1.6 * 20
100
= 0.32 Kg
CP output =
0.6 * 20
= 0.12 Kg 100
Digestion coeffient =
0.32 - 0.12 * 100
= 62.5 % 0.32
Indirect method
• When:- it is applied for feedstuff which can not be
eaten alone and not bulky as concentrate food.
this feedstuff cause digestive disturbance if given
alone to ruminants.
• Determination of their digestibility:-
their digestibility is often determined by giving
them in combination with roughage of known
digestibility.
method
• In this method 2 or more digestibility are conducted:-
1. At 1 st , eating good roughage as green corn or hay and
determination of its digestibility (basal feed).
2. In 2nd trial eating good roughage plus in question feed, in
this case it will be assumed that digestibility coefficient of
the nutrient in the good roughage will remain the same in
the 2nd test.
3. From the total nutrient voided in the feces, the portion
belong to the good roughage will be substracted and the
remain fecal nutrient are considered to the feed being
tested.
e.g.
• An animal ate 1 kg of cotton seed cake (C.S.C) with
90% DM and 20 kg of green corn with 25% DM. The
feces was 22 kg with 10% DM and the digestibility of
green corn is 60%. calculate the digestion coefficient
of C.S.C.
• Solution
1 * 90
DM intake of c.s.c = = 0.9 kg
100
DM intake of green corn = 20 *25 = 5 kg
100
DM output = 22 *10 = 2.2 kg
100
60 * 5
DM output of green corn = = 3 kg
100
= 5–3 = 2 kg
DM output of C.S.C = 2.2 – 2 = 0.2 kg
0.9 – 0.2 * 100
Digestion coefficient of C.S.C =
0.9
= 77.77 %
Indicator method
• Applied in case of :-
1. T h e l a c k o f s u i t a b l e e q u i p m e n t o r
unavailable
2. Or the particular nature of the trial may
make it impracticable to measure directly
either food intake or fecal output or both
e.g. when animals are fed as a group so it is
impossible to measure intake of each
individual.
Indicator must be:-
1) Completely indigestible and unabsorbable
2) Non toxic
3) Have no pharmacological effect
4) Have no effect on digestion
5) Easy chemical determination
6) Pass in feces in regular manner
Principle:-
• Determination of the concentration of the indicator
substance in the food and in the small samples of
the feces of each animal.
• The ratio between these concentration gives an
estimate of digestibility.
Digestibility % of DM=
No. of g indicator/ kg DM in feces- No. of g indicator /kg DM in feed *100
No. of g indicator/ kg of feces
No. of g indicator /Kg DM in feces = concentration
Digestibility of nutrient =
Concentration of indicator in feed % of nutrient in feces
100 * [100- ( * )]
Concentration of indicator in feces % of nutrient in feed
Types of indicator
Natural chemical
as lignin as chromic oxide
When it is difficult to mix chemicals with Ferric oxide
food like hay celiet
Laboratory method
• Applied In case of :-
when digestibility trial is laborious to be
performed.
laboratory method
Vivo (situ) vitro
Vivo (situ)
nylon bag
*
**
**
Known pore size to **
allow pass of the *
bacteria and allow Inserted in the
to exit the soluble rumen 24-48 hr
substance
Each bag withdraw, wash and
dried to determine the quantity
of food DM remaining as
undigested material
vitro
• Reproducing in the laboratory the reactions which
take place in the almintary tract of the animals.
O2
CO2 to create
anaerobic condition
1 gm of dried
sample + rumen
liquor or juice +
-------------------------
rumen buffer
-------------------------
Water bath (40 C)
Incubation for 24- 48 hrs then further incubation with trypsin 24
hr then filtration and the insoluble DM undigestibility
Factors affecting digestibility
1) Food composition
the digestibility of a food is closely related to its
chemical composition and a food which varies
little in composition from one sample to another
will show little variation in digestibility.
lignin
e.g. 1- lignin encrustation
↑ lignification of cell wall so cause reduction protein
of digestibility
2- dietary excess of lipid inhibit rumen M.O
3- high silica content of some food particularly rice straw
reduce digestibility
4- protein, CO ↑ digestion because protein increase the
growth and reproduction of bacteria and CO require for vitamin
B12
2) Ration composition
The digestibility of a food is influenced not only by its own
composition but also by the composition of other food
consumed with it.
e.g. roughage (DM digestibility is 60%)
concentrate (DM digestibility is 80%)
expected value of digestibility of complete ration is 70%
but it is differ from expected one because they are associative
effect are –ve (the digestibility of mixed ration is less than
expected)
• Because:-
fermentation
concentrate has already fermentable CHO (starch)
VFA (this VFA depress the rumen PH to 5 or less. The low PH
inhibit cellulolytic M.O and fiber digestibility is depressed.
• N.B the depression can be partly prevented addition a buffering
agent such as Na bicarbonate to the diet.
• so this bad indication in indirect method.
3) Preparation of food
• The commonest treatments applied to foods are
chopping, chaffing, crushing, grinding and cooking
preparation of feed
Mechanical Physical Chemical
Chopping cooking NaoH
Chaffing KoH
Crushing NH4oH
Grinding
Preparation of cereal grains
• For cattle
crushing of cereal grains because intact one pass
rapidly and is not digested because the inter surface
is not exposed to M.O.
• For sheep
intact cereal grains because sheep can chew the
cereal grains and make it crush.
• For poultry
cereal grains should be grind
Preparation of roughage
• Chaffing or chopping
has little direct effect on the digestibility, but may
reduce it indirectly by preventing the selection by
the animal of the more digestible components.
Advantage of chopping or chaffing…. No waste or
residue.
• Wafering
blocks of roughage has little effect on digestion.
• Fine grinding
reduce digestion because ground roughage pass
through the rumen faster than long or chopped
materials.
Physical treatment
• Heat treatment
heat treatment is most effective in improving digestibility
when used for inactivating enzyme inhibitors that are
present in some feedstuffs.
e.g. raw soybean which has antitrypsin & antichymotrypsin
Chemical treatment
NaoH or KoH 2% improve the digestbility from 40%
to 60% because break the connection between lignin and
cellulose.
NH4oH increase digestbility from 40% to 70%
because ammonium increase the protein from 3% to 9%.
4) Enzyme supplementation
• As non ruminants are ill-equipped to break down to
many constituents of feed, enzyme preparations may
be added to feedstuff to improve their digestibility.
• e.g. β- glucanas to barely in diets for poultry. If β- glucans
escape from digestion, they will appear in the excreta in the
form of gels that cause undesirable “sticky dropping”. In
addition, the break down of β- glucans appear to improve feed
digestibility.
• phytase enzyme that is capable of increasing digestibility
of phytic acid and hence of reducing the need for
supplementary phosphorus in diets for non-ruminants.
5) Animal factors
1. Individual variation even when of the same
spp, age, sex, there is different in digestibility
between individual
2. Species feedstuffs low in fiber are equally
well digested by ruminant and non-ruminant
animals but feedstuffs high in fiber are better
digested by ruminant than non-ruminant.
3. Age well developed ruminant digest better
than young ruminant animals.
4. Rumen environment PH: 6-7, continuous
agitation, continuous influx and out flux,
Temp: 40 C
6) Level of feeding
• An increase in the quantity of a food eaten by an
animal generally cause a faster rate of passage of
digesta. The food is then exposed to the action of
digestive enzyme for shorter period and there may
be a reduction in its digestibility. As in ruminants the
food pass rapidly so is not present in rumen 48-72 hr
for digestion.
Example
• A stear consume 20 kg of feed daily and
excrete 40 kg of feces.
feed feces
Ash 8.00% 1.33%
CF 28.6% 9.91%
EE 1.9% 0.1%
NFE 36.7% 6.20%
CP 15.3% 2.00%
1) What is the % of DM in the feed?
2) What is the % of water in the feces/
3) What is the % of digestion coefficient of DM
in the feed?
4) What is the TDN in the feed as feed basis?
5) What is the digestion coefficient of
a) NFE b) CF
6) What is the % of OM in the feed?
solution
• The % of the DM in the feed
8.00+ 28.6+ 1.9+ 36.7+ 15.3= 90.5%
• The % of water in feces
100- (1.33+ 9.91+ 0.1+ 6.20+2.00)=
100- 19.45 = 80.46%
• Digestion coefficient of DM in the feed
90.5 * 20
DM intake= = 18.1 kg
100
19.45 * 40
DM in feces= = 7.78
100
Digestible DM= 18.1- 7.78= 10.32
10.32
Digestion coefficient of DM= * 100= 57.01%
18.1
TDN in the feed
TDN= DCP+ DCHO (NFE+ CF)+ D fat*2.25
DCP=CP in feed - CP in feces
CP in feed CP in feces DCP
15.3* 20 2*40
=3.6 kg =0.8 kg 3.6-0.8= 2.8 kg
100 100
CHO in feed CHO in feces DCHO
28.6*20 + 36.7*20 9.91*40 + 6.20*40 13.06-6.44=6.62
100 100 100 100
EE in feed EE in feces DEE
1.9*20 =0.38 kg 0.1*40 =0.04 kg 0.38-0.04= 0.34
100 100
• TDN = 6.62+ 2.8+ 0.34*2.25
= 10.18
Digestion coefficient of NFE, CF
in feed in feces DC
36.7*20 6.20*40 7.34-2.48
NFE 100 =7.34 = 2.48 *100
100 7.34
= 66.2%
28.6*20 9.9*40 5.72-3.96
CF 100 = 5.72 100
=3.96
5.72
*100
= 30.7%
• The % of OM in the feed
CP+ NFE+ CF+ EE
15.3+ 36.7+ 28.6+ 1.9= 82.5%
Example 2
Feed has the following composition on fresh
basis:-
Ash :- 2.21% CF:- 6.70% EE:- 0.92%
CP:- 4.57% NFE:- 10%
What is the % of DM on fresh feed?
DM = 2.21+ 6.70+ 0.92+ 4.57+ 10= 24.4%
• What is the % of CF on air dry basis?
% of CF was 6.70 when DM was 24.4%. Air dry basis
mean 90% DM and 10% moisture.
CF DM
6.70 24.4 90*6.70
? 90 so CF = 24.4
= 24.7%
• What is the % of CF on oven dry basis?
oven dry basis mean 100% DM and 0% moisture.
CF DM
6.70 24.4 100*6.70
? 100 so CF = = 27.45 %
24.4