ndf

NDF stands for Neutral Detergent Fiber, a laboratory measure used in animal nutrition to estimate the fiber portion of forage and feeds that forms the plant cell wall. It includes the structural carbohydrates cellulose and hemicellulose as well as lignin, and it is used to predict how much feed a ruminant animal can eat and how digestible the diet will be.

Method: The Van Soest detergent fiber system uses a neutral detergent solution to remove plant cell contents (protein, sugars, pectins, lipids). The residue, dried and weighed, yields NDF as a percentage of dry matter.

Interpretation: In livestock nutrition, higher NDF typically limits dry matter intake because it contributes to rumen fill; NDF is also related to diet quality. NDF digestibility (NDFD) indicates the proportion of NDF that can be digested; both values guide diet formulation.

Other uses: The acronym NDF also denotes other terms in different fields, such as the Nuclear Data File, a database of nuclear data used in reactor physics, and National Development Fund in various countries.