DLF FIBER ENERGY™
Years of breeding and selection of only the best forage cultivars have increased the overall digestibility of our varieties. Only products with the highest fiber digestibility are honored with a DLF Fiber Energy™ badge.
FIBER DIGESTIBILITY EXPLAINED
In its simplest form, a plant cell can be split into two parts: the cell wall and the cell contents. The cell contents are made up of highly digestible components (protein, crude fat, starch, and sugars), which cannot be change, so DLF researchers focus their attention on the cell wall, specifically cellulose and hemicellulose to improve digestibility since Lignin is indigestible to livestock we cannot improve the digestibility of that component. Hemicellulose and cellulose together with lignin is what we often refer to as neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and the fraction of neutral detergent fiber, which can be digested is dNDF or what we call FIBER ENERGY . DLF Fiber Energy™ is a quality standard used for forage varieties with increased dNDF. Through plant breeding, screening and lab analysis, DLF researchers can select varieties with higher levels of dNDF.
INCREASED MILK & MEAT PRODUCTION
Simply put, animals eat the same amount of forage but with improved digestion, leading to greater feed uptake, more milk and meat produced, and less methane emissions per unit of milk/meat.
DLF Fiber Energy™ varieties show at least a 1% increase in cell wall digestibility, which our research shows is the equivalent of an extra 0.25 liters of milk per cow per day or 24 more grams of live weight gain per day.
The global demand for meat and milk is high, and as the world’s population increases exponentially the demand of tomorrow will be even higher, so trust in the vetted DLF Fiber Energy™ varieties!
