The mobile bag technique as a method for determining the degradation of four botanically diverse fibrous feedstuffs in the small intestine and total digestive tract of ponies

An in sacco mobile bag technique was used to determine the rate and extent of disappearance of unmolassed sugar-beet pulp, soyabean hulls, hay cubes and an oat hull–naked oats mixture (67:33, w/w) in the foregut and total digestive tract of ponies. Ponies were administered naso-gastrically polyester mesh bags (60×10×10 mm) containing 350 mg feed, in a 3×4 Latin square design. Bags were collected at the ileo-caecal junction (small intestine bag, SIB) and in the faeces (faecal bag, FB) and their residues analysed for proximate constituents and NSP composition and content. DM disappearances from individual bags were fitted to degradation profiles () and effective degradability values determined. Significant differences ( P sugar-beet pulp and soyabean hulls. Acid-detergent fibre, neutral-detergent fibre and NSP disappearances were small and varied little between feeds. In contrast, FB losses showed significant ( P soyabean hulls > hay cubes > oat hulls–naked oats. Crude protein losses from sugar-beet pulp and soyabean hulls in FB were significantly higher ( P soyabean hulls and the effective degradability showed that significantly more ( P