On the two-compartment model for estimating the rate and extent of feed degradation in the rumen

An analysis of the compartmental scheme used to determine the rate and extent of ruminal degradation of feeds is presented. Attention is given to the kinetic representation of the degradation of the potentially degradable fraction. Changing the kinetic order of the rate, and introducing indigestible substrate inhibition and microbial activity into its representation, are investigated. This leads to response functions such as the Gompertz and logistic for describing the cumulative disappearance of potentially degradable substrate during in-sacco and in-vitro incubation.