Steam Distillation of Volatile Fatty Acids in Rumen Ingesta

A suitable apparatus and methods for the steam distillation of V F A from approximately 100 g of tureen ingesta have been described.The YFA were distilled at a pH of 3 from a saturated MgSQ solution maintained at ]05 C. A collection of 600 ml distillate per sample was sufficient to give nearly complete recoveries of V F A present in the samples.The distilled V F A were found to be suitable for gas chromatographic analyses.