A Comparison of the Relative Accuracy between Seven-Day and Ten-Day Collection Periods in Digestion Trials

Abstract

Coefficients of apparent digestibility were calculated from data secured from seven- and ten-day collection periods during twenty-seven individual trials. Relative accuracy was compared between the two lengths of periods by using coefficients of apparent digestibility and calculating loss in efficiency between the coefficients from seven- and ten-day periods. Loss in efficiency for the coefficients of the nutrients studied were less than 2 percent in all cases except that of nitrogen-free extract which showed an efficiency loss of 6.83 percent. Because of the nature of the analyses in determining nitrogen-free extract, it is difficult to evaluate and interpret the significance of the decreased efficiency encountered here. The degree of accuracy secured by the seven-day collection period may be sufficient for many studies of apparent digestibility. With a possible exception in the case of nitrogen-free extract the seven-day collection period gave coefficients comparable in accuracy to the ten-day collection period. Copyright © . .