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Fish 207 Handout Calculation of Nutrient Digestibility for Diets and for Ingredients
AE Serrano, Jr.
Professor

A. Calculation of Nutrient Digestibility for Diets

The first step in calculating the digestibility of nutrients in diets is to determine the concentration factor (CF), which can be obtained as follows:

This factor indicates the portion of the feces that corresponds to a unit amount of the diet. Then the nutrient content in the feces needs to be divided by the CF, to determine the amount of nutrient excreted in the feces per diet. The overall calculation procedure of nutrient digestibility in diets is expressed as follows:

Example 1. Given that the protein concentration in a diet is 50%, the protein concentration in the feces is 25%, the indicator concentration in the diet is 0.5%, and the indicator concentration in the feces is 2.5%, the CF can be calculated as 2.5/0.5 = 5, and the digestibility of protein in the diet is (50-25/5) x 100/50 = 90%. For the calculation of drymatter digestibility, simply replace the nutrient concentration in feed and feces with 100%. The calculation is therefore (100-100/5) x 100/100 = 80% B. Calculation of Nutrient Digestibility for Ingredients Calculation of nutrient digestibility for ingredients is the same as that of the diet just shown if the test ingredient is fed alone by force feeding (first method) or when the ingredient is the sole source of the test nutrient in the formulated feed (second method). When the basal diet is used to measure nutrient digestibility of ingredients (third method), however, the nutrient concentration and the digestibility of the basal diet need to be subtracted from those of the test diet (i.e., basal diet plus test ingredient) (48). The nutrient digestibility in test ingredients is therefore calculated as follows:

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Example 2 (in concept). Basal diet, caseingelatin semipurified diet (60% protein, dry basis); Test ingredient,wheat middlings (20% protein, dry basis); Ratio of wheat middlings and the basal diet in the test diet: 3 : 7 (dry basis); Protein content (dry basis) in the test diet (should be) 20 x 0.3 + 60 x 0.7 = 48%; Digestibility of protein in the basal diet: 95%; Digestibility of protein in the test diet: 85%. Then, the digestibility of protein in the test ingredient can be calculated as follows:

The first part of the numerator in this formula indicates the amount of protein absorbed from the test diet. The second half of the numerator is the amount of protein absorbed from the basal diet portion of the test diet. The numerator of the formula thus represents the total amount of protein absorbed from the test-ingredient portion of the test diet. The denominator of the formula indicates the amount of protein contributed from the test ingredient in the test diet and can also be written as (0.3 x protein concentration in the test ingredient). The coefficient 0.7 in the formula for digestibility is, of course, the dry-matter ratio (proportion of the basal diet in the test diet). When a test ingredient is mixed in the basal diet at ratios other than 30% (on a dry basis), the coefficient needs to be changed accordingly. If the protein (contribution) ratio is used instead of the dry matter ratio, the calculation in Example 2 will proceed as follows:

The coefficient is the protein contribution ratio (i.e., the amount of protein contributed from the basal-diet portion in the test diet/the total protein content in the test diet); the denominator (1 - 0.875), or 0.125, is the ratio of protein contributed from the testingredient portion in the test diet. The two different methods for doing the preceding calculation should yield the same value of digestibility. If the indicator substance is included in the basal-diet mixture before being combined with a test ingredient, the dry-matter ratio (coefficient) can be determined precisely and conveniently by analyzing the concentration of the indicator in dried diets (i.e., the concentration of indicator in the test diet/the concentration of indicator in the basal diet). Example 3 (in practice) Procedure. The basal diet mixture, containing an indicator at 1%, was mixed with a test ingredient at a 7 : 3 ratio (not on a dry basis). Analytical Data (minimum required data). The indicator concentration (dry basis) In the basal diet is 1.05%, in the test diet is 0.76%, in the feces of fish fed the basal diet is 8%, and in the feces of fish fed the test diet is 4%. The protein content (dry basis) in the basal diet is 50%, in the test diet is 40%, in the feces of fish fed the basal diet is 10%, and in the feces of fish fed the test diet is 20%. Then, the digestibility of protein in the test ingredient can be calculated as follows:

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where 40-20/(4/0.76)/40 (=90.5%) represents the digestibility of protein in the test diet; 0.76/1.05 (=72.38%) is the precise proportion (dry basis) of the basal diet in the test diet; and (50-10/(8/1.05))/50 (=97.38%) represents the digestibility of protein in the basal diet. The foregoing information also provides us with the following:

It is not worthwhile to simplify the formulas just presented, because it is essential to understand the calculation process and thereby to understand the meaning of the obtained values. Also, it should be noted that these estimated values are less accurate than those measured directly. The degree of error associated with indirect determination (calculation) is dependent upon measurement (analytical) errors and the nutrient contribution ratio in the test diet. Although a precise ratio of a test ingredient to the basal diet needs to be known for calculation purposes, the ratio per se is not critical for measuring nutrient digestibility of test ingredients. When the inclusion level of the test ingredient is too low, however, it will cause a larger experimental error than when the inclusion level of the ingredient is high. The same problem will arise when the concentration of test nutrient in the test ingredient is very low relative to that in the basal diet. This is because a small difference between the measured nutrient digestibility values of the test diet will be responsible for the small amount of nutrient contributed from the test-ingredient portion. Using Example 2, we find that the protein digestibility of the test diet cannot be below 83.1% or above 95.6% when the protein digestibility of the test ingredient is calculated to be 0% and 100%, respectively. This result indicates that a small experimental error of the measured digestibility value of the test diet will be magnified into the calculated digestibility value of the test ingredient. When the inclusion level of the test ingredient into the test diet is too high, however, it will increase differences in the nutrient composition between test diets, depending on the test ingredient incorporated into the diet. Such diets may well be nutritionally inadequate or imbalanced, thereby lessening the advantage of this method. The appropriate ratio of test ingredients to the basal diet therefore depends on their nutrient-contribution ratio within the test diet.