The effect of crude fibre on apparent digestibility and digestible energy content of extruded dog foods |
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Authors: | C Castrillo F Vicente & J A Guada |
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Institution: | Departamento de Producción Animal y Ciencia de los Alimentos. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad de Zaragoza. Zaragoza, Spain |
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Abstract: | The apparent digestibility of nutrients and energy of 38 commercial dry extruded dog foods was measured using six adult (2 to 3 year-old) female Beagles. Diets contained in g/kg dry matter (DM)]: 164–360 crude protein (CP); 79–261 ether extracts (EE); 8–33 crude fibre (CF) and 318–585 nitrogen free extracts (NFE). Apparent energy digestibility ranged from 77.3 to 91.6%, and was closely related to CF content ( r =–0.85), yielding the resultant equation: GED (%)=94.00 – 4.04 × CF (% DM). The estimation of digestible energy content of foods from digestibility coefficients predicted from the above equation and gross energy measured or estimated from the Weende fractions, provides a more accurate prediction of experimental values than the Atwater approach followed by the National Research Council and the Association of American Feed Control Officials. |
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