A model for exploring lactic acidosis: 2. Model evaluation and validation

For exploring lactic acidosis, a computer model based on incorporating our experimental data with information in the literature was evaluated its sensitivity to key parameters and validated by performing against experimental results in sheep. The model produced reasonable, interesting responses in the concentrations of lactic acid and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as well as pH and the predicted data was relatively stable over the range of the values of the parameters tested. The results suggest that the rate of fermentation and the amount of substrate are important factors in terms of the development of fermentative acidosis. The model described here can be usefully employed in the design and interpretation of experiments to study lactic acid production and the prevention of acidosis in the rumen.