The potential of the semi-automated in vitro gas production technique was evaluated by incubation of four hybrids of sorghum (BR700, BR701, BR601 and AG2002). The results of this experiment (in vitro dry matter digestibility, DMD) were compared with the apparent in vivo digestibility. The relationship between the dry matter digestibility obtained by the gas production technique after 96 hours of incubation and the apparent dry matter digestibility in vivo was demonstrated by the equation: in vivo digestibility (g/kg) = 0.46 x DMD (g/kg) + 361.08 (r²=0.97). The gas technique estimated the apparent in vivo dry matter digestibility for all samples evaluated in this experiment. In addition, the rumen fermentation kinetics and also the dry matter extent of degradation using different rates of passage were calculated. The greater rate of gas production (%/h) obtained from the genotype BR601 (0.056) in relation to BR700 (0.051), BR701 (0.044) and AG2002 (0.045) was probably related to the higher DMD of the hybrid (649, 598, 601 and 593 g/kg respectively). Therefore, the semi-automated in vitro gas production technique was able to select the best hybrid BR601 in terms of digestibility and kinetics of fermentation and consequently with higher nutritional value for ruminant nutrition.
in vitro; gas production; nutritional value; ruminants
