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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 50(10)

Predicting the quality of browse-containing diets fed to sheep using faecal near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

M. B. P. Kumara Mahipala A B E , G. L. Krebs C , P. McCafferty D , T. Naumovski D , K. Dods D and R. Stephens D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Agriculture and Environment, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia.

B Present address: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

C E. H. Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.

D ChemCentre, 126 Hay Street, East Perth, WA 6004, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: pmahi@pdn.ac.lk

Animal Production Science 50(10) 925-930 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN09141
Submitted: 27 October 2009  Accepted: 23 July 2010   Published: 21 October 2010

Abstract

The potential of data collected from past feeding trials to derive faecal near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (fNIRS) calibrations for predicting the attributes of browse-containing sheep diets was examined. Reference data and faecal near-infrared spectrum pairs (n = 240) originated from five feeding trials involving 40 diets consisting of varying levels of fresh browse and oaten chaff. The fNIRS calibrations were developed to predict crude protein (CP), total phenolics (TP), total tannin (TT) and phosphorus (P) contents, protein precipitation capacity of tannin (PPC), in vivo digestibility of dry matter (DMD), organic matter (OMD) and crude protein (CPD) and in vitro OMD (IVOMD), metabolisable energy (ME) and short chain fatty acid production (eSCFA) in the diet. The precision of calibrations was evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R2c) and standard error (SEC) of calibration. The predictive ability of calibrations was evaluated by standard error of cross-validation (SECV), standard error of prediction (SEP), slope of the validation regression and the ratio of the standard deviation of the reference data to the SECV (RPD). For all fNIRS calibrations, R2c was >0.80 and SEC was close to the respective SECV. Slope of the validation regressions did not deviate from 1 for chemical attributes but deviated from 1 for functional attributes (except eSCFA). The RPD of DMD and OMD was <3, whereas the ratio was >3 for CP, TP, TT, PPC, P, CPD, IVOMD, ME and eSCFA calibrations. Data derived from the past feeding trials could be used to derive robust fNIRS calibrations to predict chemical attributes (CP, TP, TT, PPC, P) of browse-containing sheep diets. Although, fNIRS calibrations predicting dietary in vitro functional properties (digestibility and ME) were superior to those predicting in vivo functional properties, both were not so robust. Statistics of fNIRS calibrations derived using reference data originating from in vitro methods needs to be carefully interpreted.

Additional keywords: crude protein, digestibility, metabolisable energy, tannins.


Acknowledgements

The study was funded by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), Chemistry Centre (WA), and Curtin University of Technology.


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