TÉCNICA DE PRODUCCIÓN DE GAS in vitro PARA ESTIMAR LA PRODUCCIÓN DE METANO

Since the mid-twentieth century, in vitro gas production is a highly used technique to evaluate the effect of feedstuff, diets and additives on ruminal fermentation. More recently, this technique has also been used to estimate the production of methane (CH4), product of ruminal fermentation, either by gas chromatography, with a portable gas analyzer, or with a solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Any of them is useful to predict the methanogenic potential of the substrates or additives used in ruminant diets; however, each has its peculiarities that must be taken into account when deciding how to estimate the production of CH4 with the in vitro gas production technique (IVGPT).