Evaluation of faecal inoculum for estimating digestibility of feedstuffs

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of faecal suspension (FS) and rumen liquor (RL) as an inoculum for determination of in vitro true DM and OM digestibility (IVTDMD and IVTOMD) and in vitro gas production (IVGP) of different feedstuff's. The in vitro DM and OM digestibility and gas production were significantly (P<0.05) low in FS as compared to RL group. The in vitro true digestibility of DM and OM using RL was strongly correlated with that of FS particularly at 48 h (r²=0.82 and r²=0.64, respectively). There was strong correlation between IVGP of RL and FS particularly at 48 h (r²=0.98). The faecal suspension can be used as an alternative source to rumen liquor for estimating digestibility of concentrate feeds and green fodders but not for poor quality straws.