Cobalt (III)-EDTA dissociates and chromium (III)-EDTA is slightly more stable under in vitro reducing conditions comparable to those in the rumen.

Ideal digesta markers used for feeding studies are inert, unabsorbable, and move with the digesta they are intended to mark. Both chromium (III) and cobalt (III) salts of EDTA (CrEDTA and CoEDTA, respectively) are used as markers of liquid digesta in dairy cattle research. A small portion is absorbed and excreted in urine, but the markers are assumed to remain unreactive and as inert salts in the digesta and animal.

Klason lignin is a nutritionally heterogeneous fraction unsuitable for the prediction of forage neutral-detergent fibre digestibility in ruminants.

Although lignin has been negatively correlated with neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility (NDFD) in ruminants and used to predict potential extent of NDF digestion of forages, selection of an analysis, Klason lignin (KL) or acid-detergent lignin (ADL), to describe that the nutritionally relevant lignin has not been resolved. Dismissed as an artifact is the difference between KL and ADL (ΔL). A question is whether ΔL influences NDFD.

Stability of the liquid markers chromium (III) and cobalt (III)-EDTA in autoclaved, clarified rumen fluid.

An ideal digesta marker for use in feeding studies is inert, unabsorbable, and moves with the portion of the digesta it is intended to mark. Both chromium (III) and cobalt (III) salts of EDTA (CrEDTA and CoEDTA, respectively) have been used as digesta liquid markers in studies with dairy cattle. Although a small portion of these markers is known to be absorbed and excreted in urine, the markers are assumed to remain ionically bound in the digesta.