The Determination of the Energy Values of Some Ruminant Feeds by Using Digestibility Trial and Gas Test

In this study, the digestibility and energy values of eleven feed stuffs (commonly used in Turkey; wheat straw, alfalfa hay, grass hay, barley, wheat, corn, oat, wheat bran, sunflower meal, cotton seed meal, soybean meal), and two commercial mixed feeds for growing calves and milking cows were determined by using in vivo (Digestibility Trial) and in vitro (Gas Test = Hohenheimer Futter Test) methods. In the digestibility trial, nine Konya Merino rams were used. Three animals were used for each feed sample. The required rumen fluid for gas test was supplied from a rumen fistulated cow. Although limited samples were used from different species, the correlation between in vivo and in vitro metabolisable energy (ME1 and ME2) results were statistically significant (r = 0.648 and r = 0.662 ; P < 0.001). Correlation for net energy lactation were found as (NEL ; r = 0.741, p < 0.001) and digestible organic matter (DOM r = 0.481, p < 0.01). Novel equations for the calculation of ME, NEL and DOM were obtained using gas volume, crude protein and ether extract values.