The nutrition of Zebu cattle Part II. The techniques of digestibility trials with special reference to sampling, preservation and drying of faeces

Abstract

Some techniques of sampling, preserving, drying and for determination of nitrogen content of faeces were investigated.It was found that any sample between 100 and 600 g., made up of 10 g. subsamples taken at random, is satisfactory.Untreated faeces and those preserved by the addition of acetic acid, hydrochloric acid or toluene were dried in a large oven at 80° C. and compared with untreated samples dried at 105° C. for 8 hr. Duplicate samples of those dried at 80° C. were exposed to room temperature for 7 hr. and then dried. When dry-matter and crude-protein contents were compared no significant differences were found between the three groups.