Turix: a dynamic mechanistic model for feed evaluation

Abstract

The objective of this study was to use the Turix model (a new mechanistic dynamic model that can be used for feed evaluation under tropical conditions), along with in situ and in vitro sugar cane experimental data from a previous study, to evaluate sugar cane kinetics through estimation of three parameters associated with ruminal bacterial growth: kM,SmL, the substrate uptake; kLM, the bacterial growth from intermediate metabolite; and YVFAP,FS, the products related to volatile fatty acid yield. Values of these parameters for the whole sugar cane and its neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) fractions were: a) kM, SmL, 16.20, 50.47 and 21.97 mL h-1 (mg M)-1 ; b) kLM, 96.00, 543.00 and 1,680.00 h-1 ; and, 1.02, 0.40 and 0.23 g g-1 , respectively. Results from the model adjustment showed a slow microbial substrate uptake c) Y VFAP, FS and a low biomass yield for whole sugar cane. The highest substrate uptake was obtained for NDF, while the highest biomass yield was obtained for ADF. The interrelation between the parameters kM, SmL showed to be important for biological and Y VFAP, FS description of microorganism growth and VFAP and biomass production.