European ring-test on the chemical analyse of total dietary fibre and soluble fibre of compounds diets and raw materials for rabbits

International audience; Due to the role of soluble fibre (SF) on the digestive physiology and gut health of post-weaning rabbits and to the lack of reference methods for SF determination, in the framework of the harmonization activity on rabbit science methodologies carried out by EGRAN (European Group on Rabbit Nutrition), a collaborative study was achieved on the determination of total dietary fibre (TDF), aNDF corrected for protein and ash (aNDFcorr) and SF calculated as the difference between TDF and aNDFcorr. Five EGRAN laboratories analysed nine samples: four compound diets and five raw materials (alfalfa meal, wheat bran, grape marc, sunflower meal, sugarbeet pulp) with different levels of fibre fractions and SF. Each sample was analysed 3 runs for TDF and aNDFcorr. TDF was analysed according to the AOAC Method 991.43 using the kit and the procedure of Megazyme®. TDF averaged 48.2% DM, with one laboratory having higher values (49.3% vs 47.9%; P