Evaluation of mobile nylon bag technique for determining apparent ileal digestibilities of protein and amino acids in growing pigs.

The mobile nylon bag technique (MNBT) may offer a simple, rapid means for assessing ileal AA digestibility of pig feed ingredients. In the present study, the effects of washing bags recovered from digesta, the amount and fineness of feeds, and feed trypsin inhibitor activity on apparent ileal digestibilities (AID) of CP and AA were determined with the MNBT. Twenty-four ileorectal anastomosed pigs (Yorkshire x Chinese Black barrows, 30 kg initial BW), of which 12 were fitted with duodenal T-cannulas, were used. Not washing the bags recovered from ileal digesta resulted in a reduction (P < 0.05) in apparent ileal digestibilities of CP and AA determined by MNBT. Washing the bags for more than 4 min overestimated (P < 0.05) the apparent ileal digestibilities of CP and AA compared with those determined with the anastomosed pigs. Sample size and fineness of grinding also affected (P < 0.05) apparent ileal digestibilities of CP determined by MNBT. The apparent ileal digestibilities of CP determined by MNBT were reduced (P < 0.05) when sample size exceeded 0.75 g and when feed was ground through screens with a mesh size of more than 1.0 mm. The closest agreement between results obtained by MNBT and a conventional ileal digestibility assay occurred when 0.75 g of feed ground through a 1.0-mm mesh screen was used per bag and bags were washed for 2 min after retrieval from digesta. Further studies are warranted to investigate the use of the mobile nylon bag technique for predicting the ileal digestibilty of AA for feeds containing antinutritional factors.