Patent Document ID: 8501493
Application ID: 12405650
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of calibrating a spectrophotometer, the method comprising: (a) measuring absorbance or reflectance of an undigested plant matter sample using a spectrophotometer; (b) harvesting rumen fluid from at least one ruminant animal; (c) combining the rumen fluid with a primer composition comprising a carbohydrate; and (d) incubating the rumen fluid and carbohydrate of step (c) until a pre-determined endpoint is achieved, wherein the endpoint comprises a measurement selected from gas production by microbial flora in the rumen fluid, pH of the rumen fluid, or consumption of the carbohydrate in the primer composition, thereby yielding primed rumen fluid; then (e) digesting the undigested plant matter sample of step (a) with the primed rumen fluid of step (d) to yield a digested sample and measuring fiber content of the digested sample; and then (f) calibrating the spectrophotometer by correlating the measured fiber content from step (e) with the measured absorbance or reflectance from step (a).