Animal nutritionists and livestock managers have long recognized the importance of measuring the nutritive value of the feeds and forages ingested by livestock. Various analytical chemistry techniques are well established to quantify forage quality values for protein, energy or mineral content. However, these methods are sometimes costly and time consuming. NIRS is an alternative to traditional analytical methods for determining nutritive value of forages. NIRS is a rapid process, that does not require labor intensive sample processing, allowing for large scale sampling. Although startup costs for an NIR lab are significant, the lab is relatively inexpensive in the long run. Other advantages of NIRS over traditional analytical methods include:
Equations are developed for constituents by obtaining NIR spectra of fecal samples from animals consuming diets in which chemical analysis has been performed. This information is used to develop a predictive equation, which allows only NIRS to be performed on future samples, making the process faster and less expensive. |