Apparent nitrogen digestibility data: AACC-ASTM collaborative study

Apparent nitrogen digestibility data were obtained from 4 laboratories for 6 protein sources and 2 diet levels, 6 and 10% protein, after a 2-day adaptation period during the AACC-ASTM protein efficiency ratio (PER) and net protein ratio (NPR) collaborative studies. For 5 protein sources fed as 10% of the diet, the interlaboratory variation as measured by coefficient of variation (CV) values was low (1.5-3.5%), indicating high precision of the method. Wheat flour (6% protein diet) had the highest variation and, therefore, the lowest precision (CV of 7.10%). The interlaboratory variation (CV value) for 3 of the 4 laboratories was considerably lower, less than half that for the 4 laboratories. An analysis of variance of apparent nitrogen digestibility data indicated significant (P less than 0.05) effects for the 4-laboratory group due to laboratories and protein diets at both 10 and 6% protein levels, and for the 3-laboratory group at the 10% protein level. The 3-laboratory ANOVA for the 6% diets indicated a significant effect (P less than 0.05) due to diet only.