title: Short communication: a novel system to estimate protein degradability in legume and grass hays.
abstract: Previous research from our laboratory has demonstrated that near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy has utility in predicting rumen-undegradable protein (RUP) contents of legume and grass silages. This study was conducted to evaluate whether application of previous research techniques could yield a useful near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy RUP prediction system for legume and grass hays. Legume and grass hays (n = 106) were evaluated for RUP content by in situ techniques in four ruminally cannulated cows. In situ RUP for legume and grass hays averaged 25.9% CP and ranged from 14.6 to 45.5% CP, respectively. We developed a near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy RUP calibration equation for the legume and grass hay data set using in situ RUP contents as base data. This procedure resulted in an acceptable (R2 = 0.87, SE = 2.46% CP) near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy equation to predict RUP content of legume and grass hays. Data suggest that near-infrared spectroscopy predicts RUP contents of legume and grass hays with accuracies similar to legume and grass silages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53706, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Dorshorst
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hoffman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D006109:Poaceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D012417:Rumen / Q000378:metabolism; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins