In vitro degradability of feed proteins in the rumen: use of non-rumen proteases
Various feed proteins were incubated independently with bacterial protease from Streptomyces griseus (SGP), papain (Corica papaya), and ficin (Ficus glabrata) in a simple laboratory assay to predict ruminal protein degradability. The estimates obtained from in vitro assays were compared with those obtained from an in situ analysis using synthetic fibre bags. The rate and extent of degradation in vitro using proteases from non-rumen sources differed among substrates used. A high correlation coefficient (r2 = 0.99) was observed between N-degradability from the in vitro method using SGP and in situ estimates when soybean meal was the substrate. Soybean meal nitrogen (N) was almost completely hydrolysed (0.99) in vitro. The correlation coefficients were low and variable with assays using other enzymes. The correlation coefficient was also high (r2 = 0.77–0.84) with in vitro methods using either SGP, papain, or ficin when incubated with fish meal. The N disappearance from barley in vitro was slow to moderate. The ‘b’ estimate of barley obtained with the in vitro assay was significantly (P < 0.01) lower than that observed in situ. Slower proteolysis observed in barley may possibly be linked to poor accessibility of structural proteins rather than the degradability of N per se. None of the enzymes could rank barley in the same order as the in situ method.