Cellulose and Hemicellulose Digestibility in the Stomach, Small Intestine and Large Intestine of Swine2

Abstract

Alfalfa, grain sorghum, Texas Kleingrass and Coastal Bermuda grass hays were fed to swine as part of four diets each containing 30% cell walls. The swine were fitted with duodenal and ileal cannulas and digestion coefficients for dry matter, cell walls, cellulose and hemicellulose were determined from duodenal, ileal and fecal samples. Total dry matter digestion ranged from 66 to 75% and approximately 58% of that was in the small intestine with the remainder occuring in the large intestine. Except for the Coastal Bermuda grass diet approximately 100% of the cellulose and 80% of the hemicellulose digestion occurred in the large intestine. Most of the Coastal Bermuda grass cell-wall, cellulose and hemicellulose digestion appears to have occurred in the small intestine; however, because the intake of this diet was low, the high digestibility coefficients were questionable. Copyright © 1974. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1974 by American Society of Animal Science.