NIRS Forage and Feed Testing Consortium
"Dedicated to increasing the accuracy and knowledge of NIRS testing"
Instrument Standardization
Instrument Standardization is in
progress. At the Annual Meeting in
April, the Consortium agreed to begin instrument standardization with the
alfalfa breeders and evaluate the use of 2 separate standardization sets, used
in tandem. Paolo has visited all of the alfalfa breeders and all instruments
have been standardized to the Master Instrument in Madison.
Please see the attached document, First
Evaluation of the Instrument Standardization Procedure for details
of Paolo’s assessment of instrument standardization using 2 standardization
sets.
This 2-set method is being extended to
the remaining consortium members.
Routing of the 2 standardization sets is beginning. The standardization sets may be delivered by
a visit from Paolo, they may be hand routed by other Consortium members, or
they may be delivered by shipment.
Check Cell Replacement
Paolo has ordered and shipped new
ISI soybean check cells to the alfalfa breeders. When these check cells arrive
to each alfalfa breeder, each will send in their old check cell to Paolo. Paolo will repack this old cell with a new
forage check sample and return it to each lab.
New check cells for Commercial labs will
be ordered and distributed as labs get standardized. Commercial labs will also send their old check cell to Paolo, who
will repack it with a forage check sample.
In this way, each
lab
will have an ISI check cell as well as a Consortium Network forage cell.
All labs will be charged $200 from the
Consortium for the new check cells.
Instrument
Monitoring/ Diagnostics
At this time we have established an
email reporting system for instrument diagnostics and check cell results. Each lab will be contacted weekly and asked
to reply to Patty Laskowski, filling in results directly in the email
message. Paolo will respond to each lab
with his evaluation. So far we are
having good response with this reporting system. However we need 100%
participation to be able to accumulate a database of member instrument
performance. With the database, we will
be able to build the web-based reporting system.
RUP Projects
The Alfalfa Breeders fresh cut RUP calibration is
underway. Samples have been selected
and sent to the UW Soil and Forage Lab for in situ assay. Currently the in situ step is complete and
samples are being prepared for NIR analysis.
The amount of protein before and after rumen digestion will be measured
and applied to an NIR calibration. The
result will be an equation that will predict RUP from fresh clipped and dried
alfalfa samples.
The Consortium is also participating
in a second RUP project: hay and haylage RUP updates. Sample selection for updates of the hay and haylage RUP equations
is currently taking place as labs that run RUP collect the appropriate samples.
Hay
RUP, Digestibility, Energy Package Release
The
hay and haylage RUP equations developed by Pat Hoffman, along with ruminal
degraded NDF (allowing for TDN predictions) developed by Dave Combs, and
calculations of NEL at 4X maintenance will be offered as a package. This package will be offered via license
through WARF, with the current haylage RUP license, at no additional charges
for at least one year. The release date
will be September 15, 2000. For further
information on how to get this package, please contact Patty Laskowski. We will have specifics after September 15.
NIRS White Paper
The white paper brainstorm that
consortium members and nutritionists developed in April, 2000 was reviewed by
the NIRS Consortium Nutrition Advisory Committee, in conjunction with the ADSA
meeting in Baltimore, MD (July, 2000).
The committee recommended that the paper take the focus of instrument
calibrations and future offerings that are possible with NIRS, especially
within the Consortium. With this will
also be a report of how the Consortium and its members are performing and what
new innovations have been developed.
NIRS Consortium Projects
From one consortium annual meeting
to the next, much activity takes place.
Since Paolo Berzaghi’s arrival, activity has taken off at a great
pace. To keep members informed of
progress of projects, a project list has been developed that itemizes what
Paolo and the Consortium are currently working on, and what is expected to be
accomplished by our next annual meeting.
Please review carefully the attached document entitled NIRS Consortium Project List. Your lab may have questions about new
calibrations or the status of a project.
This list of projects lets members know what is in progress and what is
already available to you. Please
contact Paolo or Patty if you have any questions about projects.
NIRS Consortium Homepage Website
We are currently developing a
website/homepage so that members will have access to news and information. The purpose of the website is also to
provide information to interested parties who are not members. We would like to include links to each
member’s own website. Please provide
this information to Patty as soon as possible.
Report
of NIRS Consortium Nutrition Advisory Committee
Please see the attached document Minutes
of NIRS Consortium Nutrition Advisory Committee describing
discussions of the NIRS Consortium Nutrition Advisory Committee. While at the ADSA Annual Meeting held in
Baltimore, MD on July 27, 2000, this committee met to discuss various topics
related to Consortium activities. ____________________________________
For further
information on any of these topics, please contact Patty or Paolo.
Patty
Laskowski
NIRS
Consortium Business Manager
8396
Yellowstone Drive
Marshfield,
WI 54449
Ph:
715-387-2523 ext. 3010
Fax:
715-387-1723
Email:
mailto:pmlaskowski@facstaff.wisc.edu
Paolo
Berzaghi
NIRS
Consortium Instrument Specialist
1925
Linden Drive West
Madison,
WI 53706
Ph:
608-264-5232
Fax:
608-264-5147