Method for measuring gas production kinetics

Methodology can play a critical rôle in the measurement of digestion kinetics, especially when the objective is to define kinetic parameters for use in formulating rations or modelling animal responses. Measurement of gas production kinetics provides the opportunity to evaluate the rate of digestion of the soluble, more rapidly fermenting fractions of foods but has the potential for being more sensitive to the in vitro procedure used. Differences among procedures that have little impact on digestion of dry matter after 48 h of incubation, may have dramatic effects on fermentation of soluble matter during the first 20 h. Our objective was to develop a method for measuring the kinetics of gas production that would minimize any detrimental effects associated with the in vitro system and provide estimates of digestion kinetics that can be used to both describe foods for ration formulation systems and provide parameters for models of ruminal digestion.