Louw, J.G.Du Toit, P.J.2017-02-232017-02-2320171941Louw, JG 1941, 'The relative digestibility of the constituents of the carbohydrate complex of grasses at successive stages of growth with reference to their partition into crude fiber and nitrogen-free extract according to the standard method for feeding stuff analysis’, Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Industry, vol. 17, nos. 1 & 2, pp. 165-179.0330-2465http://hdl.handle.net/2263/59149The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.The structural constituents, natural cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, in graminaceous food materials, faeces, and the crude fibre isolated from these have been determined. The results showed that: (1) crude fibre is almost wholly composed of natural cellulose but that the method for its isolation underestimates the natural cellulose content of the feed and of the faeces; (2) natural cellulose is the most digestible portion and lignin the least digestible portion of the cell-wall structure. From this finding it is inferred that a closer association exists between the lignin and the hemicelluloses than between the former and the natural cellulose of the cell-wall complex; (3) with regard to roughages the standard feeding stuffs analysis does not divide the carbohydrate complex into substances of relatively low and substances of relatively high digestibility.en© 1941 ARC - Onderstepoort and Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria (original). © 2017 University of Pretoria. Dept. of Library Services (digital).GrassesFeedingVeterinary medicine -- South AfricaArticle