Project Number: 3655-31000-018-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Nov 02, 2002
End Date: Nov 01, 2007

Objective:
The overall objective is to develop a feed information technology (FIT) that will provide site-specific estimates of a feed's nutritive value for dairy cattle by considering crop growing, harvesting and storage conditions, the characteristics of the animal and ration that is fed, in addition to laboratory analyses. Sub-objectives include: 1) develop a comprehensive and internally consistent feed reference database of chemical and digestion kinetic characteristics, physical properties, and biological measurements of feeds; 2) develop quantitative relationships between crop growing conditions and the nutritive value of a crop (corn and alfalfa); 3) improve the relationships used to adjust nutritive value in response to changes in nitrogen and carbohydrate fractions during harvesting, storage, and preservation; 4) investigate the effects of lignification and ruminal pH on digestible NDF concentration; and 5) evaluate the feed information expert system using published data, results from new feeding trials and field trials on selected commercial farms across the U.S.

Approach:
A prototype FIT has been developed to meet the overall objective, and the proposed research seeks to bring that technology to a point of commercial usefulness. The FIT consists of two distinct but interacting components. The first, a feed reference database, will contain internally consistent information about the description, chemical composition, physical properties, and bioavailabilities of feeds. The second, an expert system, will gather information from the user regarding growing, harvesting, storage and feeding conditions, estimate critical missing information, match input information with that in the feed reference database, and then utilize all of this information to provide site-specific estimates of nutritive value. Research approaches include: 1) published data and information acquired during this project will be used to develop a comprehensive and internally consistent feed reference database for selected feeds; 2) a multi-site, multi-state, multi-year database of crop growing conditions and nutritive characteristics in corn will be analyzed statistically to develop relationships for use in the expert system; 3) small-scale trials will monitor the changes in nitrogen and carbohydrate fractions during ensiling as affected by various factors; 4) a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments will investigate the effects of lignification and ruminal pH on digestible NDF; and 5) calculated energy input:output from in vivo research trials and tests on 20 or more commercial farms across the U.S. will be used to assess the accuracy of the site-specific estimates of nutritive value.

Project Team

Mertens, David Muck, Richard Martin, Neal Broderick, Glen

Project Annual Reports

FY 2003

Related National Programs

Food Animal Production (101)

Related Projects

Rapid Analysis of Wet Forages to Improve Calibrations of Dry Matter Intake and Digestion Kinetics    Developing and Analyzing a Database of Weather and Soil Information to Be Related to Forage Quality    Direct Measurement of Pendf to Improve Dairy Rations Containing Minimum Fiber    Influence of Plant Growth Environment on the Nutritive Value of Feeds    Impact of Alfalfa Hay Ndf Content and Digestibility on Dairy Cow Performance    Silage Quality and Losses As Affected by Silo Type    The Nutritive Value of Legumes When Grown in a Mixture with Grasses