Effect of extracts of Dactylis glomerata on the in vitro digestion of Trifolium repens

Abstract

White clover (Trifolium repens) was fermented in the presence of detergent extracts of thirty-two cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) cultivars and eight other pasture species, using a two stage in vitro technique. The in vitro dry matter digestibility of white clover was not depressed by the presence of the detergent extracts to any practical extent. The small depression observed was probably due to the presence of water soluble components of the pasture species. The presence of a detergent-soluble, metabolic inhibitor in cocksfoot cultivars, or the eight other pasture species, was not exhibited using the method described. The in vitro dry matter digestibility of white clover in the presence of detergent extracts of cocksfoot was not correlated with the digestibility values of the cocksfoot samples from which the extracts were made. This suggests that the wide variation observed in the digestibility of the cocksfoot cultivars (54 to 80 per cent) was not due to the presence of any detergent-soluble, inhibiting substances.