Re: Re: RE: Re: Purina Complete Advantage

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 10:38 AM
Subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Purina Complete Advantage


> What is DE?
>


DE = digestible energy.  It refers to the total (gross) energy available in
a feed, MINUS the amount of energy that passes out of the system via the
feces undigested.  Depending on the feed type, you can lose just a few
percent (ie, fat), or can lose alot of the energy (30% or more) if the
energy is relatively unavailable.  There are other terms for energy
partitioning, depending on how far down the metabolism line you go---first
you lose part of the energy in the feces, more is lost in the urine and in
methane production (a large cost in cows and sheep), more is lost in heat of
digestion and eventually you end up with what's called Metabolizable Energy,
the calories that are right there in the cells ready to go to work.  The
problem is that ME is really difficult to measure accurately, so the more
universal term DE is commonly used for horses.

Probably a lot more than you really wanted to know, huh? :-)

Susan G