Comparative Studies of Two In Vitro Forage Evaluation Technique

Abstract

The study was conducted with eight indigenous forages collected from two different places namely Khanapara and Barnihat, Assam at 45 days interval for three times. The main aim is to compare in vitro nutrient digestibility of forages by using two stage Tilley and Terry method, (1963) and Enzymatic digestion using pepsin and cellulase described by De Boever et al. (1985). The mean in vitro DM and OM digestibility % decreased from 1st to the 3rd harvest in both the method. The combined analysis revealed no significant difference on In vitro digestibility values estimated by both the methods between the locations but difference between species were highly significant (P<0.01). Both dry matter and organic matter digestibility values were higher with the enzymatic method as compared to two stage Tilley and Terry method.