The effect of rumen fluid storage time on digestive capacity with five forage/browse samples

Rumen fluid collected for in vitro digestion studies from wild herbivores c annot always be used immediately and must be stored. This experiment examin ed the effect of storage time on the digestive ability of sheep rumen fluid using five feeds of differing digestibility (three browse species, a tempe rate grass and a tropical grass). Rumen fluid was collected, chilled to 18 degrees C and stored under CO2 for 24h and 48h before being used at the same time as fresh rumen fluid. A 72h rumen fluid/buffer digestion and a 24h acid pepsin digestion was used, to determine in vitro digestibility. Three separate runs were made, with tripl icate samples of each feed in each run. Overall there was a slight decline in digestibility: 50.9, 50.2 and 49.0% w ith storage times of Oh, 24h and 48h, but differences were not significant (P>0.05). There was no feed x storage time interaction (P>0.05). It is prop osed that storage for up to 48h at 18 degrees C would be acceptable for exa mining digestive capacity of rumen fluid collected from wild animals in rem ote locations.