Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2018
In vitro systems to estimate foods nutrient quality at the rumen level are becoming increasingly attractive. From an economic aspect these systems provide considerable savings in terms of the number of animals, quantity of foods and labour input required, as well as the time taken to conduct a study. Equally important, from an ethical standpoint they have the potential of substantially reducing the number of surgically modified animals required. In addition, as the systems are, to varying degrees, artificial they tend to be highly repeatable and therefore ideally suited to routine analysis. With consideration to the above, the ANKOM in vitro fermentation system (Fairport, NY 14450, USA) was examined to determine its potential as an alternative to in situ rumen degradability studies. The results reported here are from part of that work.