NIRS Forage and Feed Testing Consortium
“ Dedicated to increasing the accuracy and knowledge of NIRS testing.”
March/April, 2001
Annual Meeting 2001
A great deal was accomplished at the
annual meeting this year. Please let
the board members, Patty, or Paolo know your thoughts on what you would like to
see get done, if we did not discuss it at the meeting.
A summary of major points and decisions
of the meeting may be found in the document: Consortium
Annual Meeting Summary/Decisions.
All labs are asked to carry out the items under
section V.
Please review the document: NIRS
Consortium Project List, Year 2000–2001, as well as NIRS
Consortium Project List, Year 2001–2002. These documents list projects we have taken on in the last year
and completed, as well as projects to complete in the coming year- with
tentative completion dates.
From your notes at the annual meeting, an
updated Membership Contact List has been outlined.
Check Cell Replacement
New check cells for Commercial labs
have all been distributed. All labs
should have also received an invoice for the new cell. Please follow the instructions in the
document: New
Check Cell Installation. Once
the new check cell has been installed and approved by Paolo, please send Paolo
your old check cell for repacking with a legume/grass forage product. Paolo may ask for lab participation in
collecting a bulk sample to fill the check cells with. The goal is for each lab to have a new ISI
check cell as well as a Consortium forage check cell.
Grinding
Protocol
Please review a protocol developed
by Jim Halgerson at the University of Minnesota that outlines his suggested
grinding protocol. Please keep in your
records for later discussion. Some
alfalfa breeding companies are already opting to implement this protocol. Jim’s document is labeled: Grinding
Protocol.
NDFd Calibration Development for Corn Silage
Our first meeting of a Corn Silage Committee on April 12th
discussed development of an NDFd calibration for corn silage. A second meeting is scheduled for April 19th. Please contact Patty if you have missed
information on how to participate and would like to. This second meeting will address sample collection, a timeline
for reference analysis, and calibration development. All Consortium members are invited to participate in development
of this equation. Those receiving the
equation will be required to submit samples and split reference analysis
cost.
____________________________________
For further
information on any of these topics, please contact Patty Laskowski.
Patty
Laskowski
8396
Yellowstone Drive
Marshfield,
WI 54449
Ph:
715-387-2523 ext. 3010
Fax:
715-387-1723
Email:
pmlaskowski@facstaff.wisc.edu