An in vitro culture method to examine the associative effects between roughage and concentrate feeds with different GI indexes

In vitro method were used in this experiment to study the relationship between different types of roughage and different roughage and concentrate feed combinations with various GI indexes. The results of this study will provide important information that can be used to match feed and diet when preparing for production. For the multiple-factors associative effects index (MFAEI), corn silage and Leymus chinensis had the highest combination effect (1.40), followed by corn silage and brewer's grains (1.07). The combination of L. chinensis and rice straw was the lowest, with an MFAEI of 0.52. In addition, positive combination effects were observed between different roughage and concentrate combinations. Among them, the corn silage and L. chinensis concentrate had the highest MFAEI (0.37), followed by the L. chinensis and rice straw concentrate (0.36). The corn silage and beer lees concentrate was the lowest with an MFAEI of 0.24. This shows that in production practice, the GI index can be used together with the combination effect to make rational use of roughage and concentrate. This increases positive associative effects, controls negative associative effects, prevents feed waste, and improves animal production performance.