Comparison of Micro- and Macro- Digestion Methods for Fiber Analysis in Forages and Ruminant Diets

Abstract

Micro-methods for analyses of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and permanganate lignin were compared to the macro-methods of Van Soest (1963) and Van Soest and Wine (1967, 1968). Differences between the two methods were small although the micro-methods gave better precision for ADF while the macro-method gave better precision NDF and lignin. Time and reagents needed for analysis were reduced over 60% with the micro-digestion methods.