Use of Detergents in the Analysis of Fibrous Feeds. II. A Rapid Method for the Determination of Fiber and Lignin

Abstract The capacity of cetyl trimethylammonium bromide to dissolve proteins in acid solution has been utilized in development of a method, called acid-detergent fiber method (ADF), which is not only a fiber determination in itself but also the major preparatory step in the determination of lignin. The entire procedure for determining fiber and lignin is considerably more rapid than presently published methods. Compositional studies show ADF to consist chiefly of lignin and polysaccharides. Correlations with the new fiber method and digestibility of 18 forages (r = —0.79) showed it to be somewhat superior to crude fiber (r = —0.73) in estimating nutritive value. The correlation of the new lignin method and digestibility was -0.90 when grass and legume species were separated.