In order to evaluate the nutritional value of the feed ingested by dairy cows, which are herbivorous animals, it is inevitable to evaluate the fiber contained in the grass. Historically, various fiber evaluation methods have been devised, and until the middle of the 20th century, a classification called "crude fiber" was used. However, since it is literally a "crude" fiber, it was not possible to accurately grasp the categories that cattle could use and those that could not.
Here comes a genius. Dr. Peter Van Soest.
We have developed a method to quantify the division of slow digestion by rumen microorganisms. By using a detergent solution, we divided the extracted part into soluble part and the residual part into non-soluble part, and named the latter as Neutral Detergent Fiber.
As a result, the digestibility of fiber, which could only be grasped "roughly", can now be grasped numerically with high accuracy.
Dr. Van Soest's paper on NDF published in 1991 had the highest number of citations of all past papers in the Journal of Dairy Science (see chart below, as of 2015).There is an overwhelming difference from the 2nd and 3rd most cited papers..
The Journal of Dairy Science does not do its own analysis now that scientific papers are evaluated by various institutions, but it is likely that the cumulative number of citations in the field of dairy science remains the highest. It seems that
From this point alone, it is possible to guess the influence that the doctor had on the dairy industry.
The analysis method of NDF has also evolved, and various researchers have improved NDF, NDR, aNDF, and now the evaluation value "aNDFom" is used in the latest version of CNCPS.
However, the starting point was NDF, and it is no exaggeration to say that without its development, there would have been no development of CNCPS. Another wonderful thing about Dr. Van Soest is that he is always aware of the incompleteness of fiber evaluation, even though he is living alone in a house in the suburbs due to his physical condition, and he teaches many students and researchers who come to ask for his teachings. It is that I continued to do it and did not neglect to send it to the world.
Dr. Peter Van Soest passed away on March 21, 2021.I pray for the souls sincerely.
From the Journal of Dairy Science website