Feeds’ sugar content is commonly measured using either ethanol soluble carbohydrate (ESC) or water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) method. ESC extraction typically yields a mix of simple sugars and some short-chain fructans. WSC contains simple sugars, fructans, and other medium chain carbohydrates. Typically, WSC ferments like sugars: in feeds like fresh pasture, these WSC are critically important when describing the fermentation behavior observed. For ruminant nutrition it is thought that WSC better covers all sugars relevant in ruminant nutrition. However, using WSC for “cooked” grains, like bakery by-products and cereal by-products, cooked grains, etc, using WSC results in incorrect pool sizes . If you are using bakery by-products or a cooked grain, use ESC for sugar analysis. In the program, depending on what feed you are importing the analysis of, check or un check the box in Settings>Screen Settings> Analyses Import as appropriate.
