METHOD OF FEED

EVALUATION
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
WHAT IS FEED ANALYSIS?
• Chemical procedures done
on feed to determine the
amount of nutrients contained
in feed/food.
• Gives the potential value of a
feed/food to supply a
particular nutrient to the
animal.
 PROXIMATE ANALYSIS
• Defines the nutrient content of feeds in
general terms.
• Separates components of feed into 6
fractions:
1.Moisture
2.Crude Protein
3.Crude fat or Ether extract
4.Crude Fiber
5.Nitrogen-free extract
6.Ash
 MOISTURE
• Obtained by drying feed sample in
the oven at 100 C -105 C for 3-4
hrs in an oven
• Loss in weight is the moisture
• The residue is the dry matter
• If moisture is known, dry matter
can be calculated and vice versa

% DM=100 - % moisture
 CRUDE PROTEIN
• Obtained by analyzing % N in feed
• Crude protein is calculated by
%CP = % N x 6.25
6.25 is a constant factor based on the
assumption that protein contains 16% N
• N in feed can be true protein or non protein
N compounds
• Most N in feeds except for a few is true
protein
• True protein can be utilized by non
ruminants while ruminants can utilize both
true and non-protein N compounds
CRUDE FAT or ETHER EXTRACT
• Obtained by extracting feed with
petroleum ether
• Ether soluble materials-true fats,
fatty acids, compound lipids and fat
soluble vitamins
• Most of what is extracted in feed is
fat
• Feed content soluble in solvent
• Crude fat = sample of food – fat free
residue
• This amount is then divided by the amount
of dry matter and the answer multiplied by
100 to calculate Crude fat on a DM basis
 ASH
• Obtained by burning organic matter
in feed at 600 C for 3 - 4 hours
• The residue is the ash which
contains the minerals or inorganic
fraction of the feed
• Has limited nutritional value but
serves as a starting point in the
analysis of minerals
• The residue become the ash – the inorganic
portion of the feed.
• It consists of the
A. Essential minerals – macro and micro
B. Non essential - Ti, Al, B, Pb
C. Minerals of organic origin like S and P
from protein molecule
• Diets high of Ash content are typically of
Lower quality or maybe contaminated with
other substances
 CRUDE FIBER
• Analyzed by simulating digestion in the
stomach and the small intestines
• Obtained by digesting feed sample in
dilute acid and then dilute base, the
residue is burned in a furnace at 600C.
• What was burned is the fiber which
contains cellulose, hemicellulose and
lignin
• This is of low value to non-ruminants
but valuable to ruminants.
• Crude fiber = %fat free residue - %ash
NITROGEN-FREE EXTRACT
• Obtained by difference after all other
proximate fractions are obtained
• Calculated by:
% NFE = 100-%CP + %CF +
%CEE + % Ash + % Moisture
• Contains the sugars and starches
with some of the more soluble
hemicellulose lignin
 FEED SAMPLE ( PLANT OR ANIMAL TISSUE)

Water Dry matter

Organic Inorganic matter

matter (Ash)

Nitrogenous compounds (CP) Non-Nitrogenous compounds

True Non-
Protein Protein N
cpds
Fat Soluble
Fiber carbohydrates
(CEE)
(CF) (NFE)
 NUTRIENTS IN PROXIMATE COMPONENTS
PROXIMATE NUTRIENTS
COMPONENTS
MOISTURE Water
ASH Minerals
CRUDE PROTEIN Protein and non-protein nitrogen
compounds
CRUDE FAT Fat
CRUDE FIBER Less digestible carbohydrates such
as cellulose, hemicellulose, other
non-starch polysaccharides
NITROGEN-FREE More digestible carbohydrates
EXTRACT including starch, sugars & glycogen
 Sample Problem
• You have just analyzed a feed
sample by proximate analysis, which
contained the following information.
• Dry matter = 90%
• Ash = 6%
• Nitrogen = 3%
• Ether extract = 2%
• Crude fiber = 6%
• What is the water content ______ %
• What is the organic matter content ___%
• What is the crude protein content ____%
• What is the NFE content _____%
II. DETERGENT FIBER ANALYSIS
• Developed by Van Soest and
associates in 1966
• Alternative procedure for determining
carbohydrate fractions of forages
• Divides forage into 2 fractions:
1.Neutral detergent solubles
(NDS)
2.Neutral detergent insolubles or
Neutral detergent fiber (NDF)
1. NEUTRAL DETERGENT SOLUBLES
(NDS)
Contains the cell contents which
consists of lipids, sugars, starches and
protein
Highly digestible
2. NEUTRAL DETERGENT INSOLUBLES
or NEUTRAL DETERGENT FIBER
(NDF)
Consists of hemicellulose, cellulose,
lignin and silica
Of low digestibility
 FEED SAMPLE BOILED WITH NEUTRAL DETERGENT

Neutral detergent fiber(NDF) Neutral detergent solubles

(plant cell wall) (cell contents + pectin)
Hemicellulose Soluble carbohydrates
Cellulose Organic acids
lignin Protein
Pectin

Boiled with acid detergent

Acid detergent fiber (ADF) Acid detergent solubles

Cellulose (ADF)
lignin hemicellulose

KMnO4
72% H2SO4

Cellulose + same Lignin lost by oxidation

Cellulose
Lignin + minerals dissolved

Ash Cellulose lost by ignition

Ash Lignin lost by ignition

Van Soest Method of Partitioning Fiber in Feeds

METHOD OF FEED EVALUATION
 Chemical analysis gives the potential
value of the feed
 It fails to give any idea of the feed’s
digestibility, palatability or nutritional
adequacy
 Actual value of feed can be had after
making allowances for losses in digestion,
absorption and metabolism and by the
performance of the animals
 Other methods used to evaluate feeds
are feeding trial, digestion trial and
metabolism trial
METHOD OF FEED EVALUATION

B. FEEDING TRIAL
HOW IS FEEDING TRIAL DONE
• Feed to be tested is fed to a group
growing or mature animals and
certain parameters measured
• For growing trials:
• Weight gain, feed efficiency, feed
consumption
• For trials using mature animals:
• Egg production, milk production,
weight gain of offspring
 Sample Data on Feeding Trial
RATION RATION B RATION
A C
No. of Animals 30 30 30

Ave. Daily Gain 556 543 422

Ave. Daily
1230 1230 1320
Feed Intake (g)

Feed Efficiency 2.12 2.27 3.133

METHOD OF FEED EVALUATION

B. DIGESTION TRIAL
WHAT IS DIGESTION TRIAL
• It is a method of feed evaluation
that measures the part of the feed
eaten that is not found in the feces
thus assumed to be digested and
absorbed
• Trials with mammals uses males as
the preferred animals over that of
the female.
HOW IS DIGESTION TRIAL CONDUCTED
1. Animals are placed in cage which allows for
collection of feaces uncontaminated by
urine
2. Preliminary period (4-10 days) is allowed to
rid the digestive tract of previous feed and
to determine the average feed intake.
During this period the test feed is given.
3. After the preliminary period, feed and
feaces are collected, measured and
analyzed for nutrient of interest for a period
of 4 to 10 days. Digestibility then can be
computed as % coefficient of digestibility
 HOW IS % COEFFICIENT OF
DIGESTIBILITY (COD) COMPUTED?

nutrient intake – nutrient feaces

% COD = X 100
Nutrient intake

Nutrient maybe CP, CF,

CEE, NFE
Example:
Feed consumed, air dry basis = 3.0 kg
 % Crude Protein = 22 %
Feces excreted, air dry basis = 2 kg
% Crude protein = 8%
CP intake = 3 x 22 / 100 = 0.66
CP excreted = 2 x 8 / 100 = 0.16

% COD of CP= 0.66 - 0.16 x 100

0.66
= 75.76%
 Sample calculation for digestion trial
Dry Crude Crude Crude Nitrogen
Line (L) Matter Protein Fat Fiber Free
(CP) Extract

1. Amount of Feed eaten daily - 9.11kg

2. Composition of Feed (from lab analysis) 91.50% 8.7% 2.01% 27.89% 48.22%
3. Amount of each nutrient in feed eaten 8.34kg 0.79kg 0.18kg 2.54kg 4.39kg
daily (L1 x L2) /100
4. Average daily feces excreted - 20.61 kg

5. Composition of Feces (from lab analysis) 20.035% 1.92% 0.41% 8.09% 8.10%
6. Amount of each nutrient in daily feces 4.13kg 0.40kg 0.08kg 1.67kg 1.67kg
(L 4 x L5) /100
7. Amount of each nutrient digested 4.21kg 0.39kg 0.10kg 0.87kg 2.72kg
(L3-L6)
8. Coefficient of digestibility (COD) of each 50.5% 49.40% 55.5% 34.3% 62.0%
nutrient
9. % of digestibility nutrient in feed 46.2% 4.28% 1.10% 9.55% 29.9%
(L8xL2)/100
(L7xL1)x100
TOTAL DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS (TDN)
A measure of the relative energy
value of a feed
Expressed as a % of kg
Computed from digestibility trial
The sum total of the digestible
crude fat x 2.25, digestible crude
fiber, digestible nitrogen-free-
extract
 TDN is arrived by adding the ff:
From digestion trial data

Digestible crude protein 4.28%

Digestible crude fiber 9.55
Digestible N-free extract 29.9
Digestible crude fat
x 2.25(1.10x2.25) 2.48

Total -------------------------- 46.21% TDN

Thank you!