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  Discussion on Wet chemistry or Infrared Spectroscopy?
Author Message
Member:
remmi

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009 - 11:17 am:

I am sending my hay off for testing and am using Equi-analytical services. They offer both wet chemistry amd infrared spectroscopy. Infrared is less expensive, and the lab says works just as well.

What are the pros/cons of each method for hay testing?

Thanks
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 9, 2009 - 8:09 am:

Hello Heidi,
Frankly I am not familiar with the infrared spectroscopy for hay evaluation. When I get back in the office next week I will see what I can find out. In the mean time what specifically what are you having the hay evaluated for and what characterisitics do they say they can test for with infrared light?
DrO
Member:
gramsey1

Posted on Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 12:14 am:

We use infrared spectroscopy to identify species of organic contaminates on the surface of electronic assemblies.
So, if you spill Cola or Coffee on your laptop and then make a warranty claim, we can tell what caused the device to fail. Not something that we would expect to find on product from factory.
I don't know that kind of signature they would be looking for but each compound and combination of compounds has a signature. Add some sugar to the coffee and the signature is quite different. This will be something that a person with great experience will be making a subjective evaluation. Someone with little or limited experience will not read the signature correctly.
Member:
remmi

Posted on Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 12:41 pm:

I requested a complete analysis including NSC profile, selenium, minerals (including iron). I did more research on wet vs infrared spectroscopy, and learned that infrared compares your sample with a data base, whereas wet chemistry tests the actual level in your hay. Wet chemistry takes 4 days vs infrared only one day, which is why it is more expensive. I decided to go with wet chemistry, although the customer service person I talked to said infrared is the trend.

Thanks. Heidi
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 10:49 am:

I too spent some time online this morning and while research into infrared analysis goes back over 10 years it appears a bit hit or miss at the practical level at this time as there are lots of factors effecting accuracy.

Labs that do large numbers of IR analysis on fairly high quality samples of the same type forage you submit are able to give fairly accurate amounts of protein and fiber but minerals are more difficult to analyze and should still be done using wet lab methods when important. Probably best is to contact the lab discuss your goals and have them make recommendations. Be sure to follow their recommendations for sampling scrupulously. As IR techniques improve and as experience and data accumulate we can expect IR to be used more and more with greater accuracy.

I will put this on my radar and try and keep up with the latest and post it to the forage article.
DrO
Member:
gramsey1

Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 7:42 pm:

Dr. O
Your observations are consistent with my experience using the technology. It is a little like looking a an oscilloscope image of music and trying to tell what piece is being performed.
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