Abstract
The potential of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and multivariate statistical techniques for the identification of new feed resources for ruminants was examined. Fifty diverse Mediterranean feeds including cereal fodder, legume fodder, vetch fodder, permanent meadow hay, cereal straw, legume straw, sugar beet root by-products, concentrates and agricultural by-products were used in this study. Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to examine the distribution and inter-relationships between the different feeds. Overlap was observed between the different categories of feeds and several concentrate samples and by-products appeared at the extremes of the population. Spectral regions characteristic of fats and oils were associated with the discrimination. NIR spectra may be used to highlight differences and differentiate between different ruminant feeds. Qualitative analysis allows for comparison of samples on the basis of their spectral chemistry alone.
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