Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR) is a well-established method for quality control screening of feed and ingre- dients.
performance, but also by giving a better understanding of the raw material and feed characteristics, increasing feed in- telligence in order to better formulate diets, thus further improving animal performance and feed profitability. Today the most precise estimation of fibre is analysis of total dietary fibre (TDF); however, there is limited data on NSP and lignin content for feed ingredients. TDF has both a chemical and a physiological definition. Chemically, TDF refers to the sum of NSP plus lignin. This mean that analysing NSP and lignin will enable us to better characterise TDF in feedstuffs, especially those fractions that are more soluble and not picked up by other methods. Until now, utilising these meth- ods alone for fibre analysis has led to the misconception that fibre in monogastric diets is low. However, crude fibre only represents 21% of the TDF in corn and wheat. Having a greater understanding of fibre components will help us to understand how to optimise its use.
Cereal energy and fibre variability Variation in cereal quality can significantly increase feed costs, particularly for pig and poultry producers. Recent Euro- pean cereal quality data collected by AB Vista from three countries shows the apparent metabolizable energy (AME) variation in wheat could be as high as 3,086 kcal/kg in the case of the UK and as low as 2,948 kcal/kg in Poland, which means almost 150 kcal difference between them. There is a similar trend in barley. The potential for economic gains comes when the total AME variability is large, but even differ- ences as small as 150 kcal/kg can still represent considerable savings during diet formulation. Being able to measure feed ingredients rapidly by using NIR may make it possible to link these fibre fractions with animal performance, an initial step
forwards in enabling nutritionists to begin to determine their soluble to insoluble ratios or other chemical factors. Figure 2 shows that crude fibre represents only around 20% of total dietary fibre in both cereals, and most of it is insoluble fibre.
Conclusion NIR is currently used to predict the nutritional content of feed and raw materials as well as to control inline and real- time feed formulation. This reduces costs and allows quicker turnaround time when compared to traditional chemical based analysis. The ease of use of NIR allows much more fre- quent analysis of ingredient quality, leading to greater feed and ingredient intelligence in a database based on which precision nutrition decisions can be made e.g. optimising safety margins, comparing suppliers and updating feed formulas.
Figure 2 - Average values of Crude and Total dietary fibre (soluble and insoluble) in wheat and barley samples from different countries.
10 12 14 16 18 20
0 2 4 6 8
Poland Italy GB Wheat EU Poland Italy Barley ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 29, No. 3, 2021 23 GB EU
Insoluble Total Dietary Fibre Soluble Total Dietary Fibre
Crude Fibre
PHOTO: RONALD HISSINK
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