LABORATORY MANAGEMENT

Sample Intake and Processing

Supplemental materials for Good Laboratory Management Training Manual for Trainers
Prepared by Richard Fethiere, University of Florida

FEED THE FUTURE INNOVATION LAB FOR LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS

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 • Sample intake and processing
• Submission checklist
• Sample information
Background • Services/analyses offered
• Description of analyses services offered
• Sample processing
 SAMPLE INTAKE AND PROCESSING

Lab contact information:

• A submission form (Form 1) must be available to gather contact information on
the person submitting samples to the lab

This form will collect the following info from the potential client or researcher: Date, researcher
name, address, telephone, e-mail, type of sample material submitted, total number of samples
submitted, analysis requested, total cost for the samples , this position of samples, account
number for payment and forage lab (FL) set number

• This submission form will also allow the lab to keep track of the samples and
their logbook
FORM 1
 SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
Sample preparation for nutritive value analyses
• All samples should be dried at 60 C and ground through a 1-millimeter screen. Any material left on the
screen should be rerun, not discarded or returned into the sample as particle size will greatly affect
results

Sample Packaging
• Place samples in 7oz whirl pack bag only. Fill bag approximately halfway (between 10 and 25 grams).
Bags with either too little or too much sample will make it difficult to obtain a representative sample
for analysis

Sample Labeling
• Use a sharpie, magic marker, or other permanent marker to write the sample number directly in the
sample bag. Write the numbers on the bottom half of the bag

Sample numbering
• Number all samples in the experiment from one to N. For experiments larger than 400 samples please
contact the lab manager to decide on how to organize samples
 SAMPLE INFORMATION

This submission form will gather

information on name of trial or essay, This information will serve as a record
The submission form allows the
date on which the trial/essay was for the lab and for the researcher
laboratory to record information
conducted, name of researcher, simple submitting the samples. This
on the samples submitted as well
description for each sample, sequential information will also be useful to the lab
as the different treatments that
sample number, replication number in technicians to validate the results of the
were applied to the samples
the field, species/tissue type, treatment analysis
description
FORM 2
 SERVICES / ANALYSES OFFERED
 Wet chemistry (price per test, not per sample)
 Dry matter – Organic Matter
 Total Nitrogen
 Total Phosphorus
 In vitro Organic Matter Digestion
 SERVICES / ANALYSES OFFERED

Method used is a Analysis of digestate

Total Nitrogen

Nitrogen (N) is modification of the done with Technicon

standard Kjeldahl Digestions are Autoanalyzer at the
reported as elemental conducted at FESL
N as a percentage of procedure = Value Ruminant Nutrition
DM represents total N Lab (AS)
(Organic and
inorganic)
 SAMPLE PROCESSING

FL # and Samples are

As samples Form 1 for this transferred into sample
corresponding info
arrive at set is assigned a
are transferred to
boxes, which are also
laboratory FL # assigned to the same
logbook FL #

• In the logbook, the following info is recorded as samples are received: FL#, # of
samples received, researcher name, date of sample reception, experiment description,
codes, analyses/procedures requested
 Consult the Good Laboratory Management Training Manual for Trainers
https://livestocklab.ifas.ufl.edu/resources/glp/

Direct link to manual in PDF:

https://livestocklab.ifas.ufl.edu/media/livestocklabifasufledu/pdf-/MANUAL-Fet
hiere_UF_Good-lab-management-practices_2022.pdf
 Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems
https://livestocklab.ifas.ufl.edu/
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livestock-lab@ufl.edu

Disclaimer
This work was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Food Security under Agreement #AID-OAA-L-15-00003 as
part of Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems, and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation OPP#1175487. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or
recommendations expressed here are those of the authors alone.
www.feedthefuture.gov