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Description: Digestibility of ruminant feed stuffs can be determined by measuring the gas produced during rumen fermentation, since these parameters are directly related. Gas production can be measured from the pressure differential between ambient pressure (corrected to STP) and the pressure within sealed serum bottles containing the feed stuff and buffered rumen fluid. The box shown was constructed at Cornell University. The pressure sensors can be seen hanging from the top of the box ready to be inserted into sealed serum bottles. A temperature of 40 degrees centigrade is thermostatically maintained using a light bulb as the heat source with two small fans to circulate the air. The serum bottles, each containing a small bar magnet in addition to the digestion materials, are placed on the horizontal shelf with magnetic stirrers underneath. Each bottle is thus continuously stirred. The data set is recorded on a PC and graphs of the gas production are analyzed by non-linear regression.

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