The pressure transducer technique has been proposed as a method of evaluating feed degradation characteristics (Theodorou, 1993) and it has been shown to predict the in vivo and in sacco degradability of forages (Blummel and Orskov, 1993). However the original technique requires rumen liquor and hence access to surgically prepared animals. Faecal material is generally easier to obtain and this work assessed it's suitability as an alternative source of microbes.

Rumen liquor (R) and faeces (F) were collected simultaneously from a rumenally fistulated lactating dairy cow. R was mixed 1:1 with modified van Soest medium and F 1:2 to obtain similar dry matter contents. Homogenised strained 20 ml aliquats were inoculated into vented 250 ml bottles containing 180 ml of modified van Soest medium and 1.5g DM of a 7:3 mixture of milled air dried grass silage and 180 g CP / kg DM concentrates. The 7:3 ratio of silage and concentrates was chosen to reflect the diet the donor cow was consuming.