What is the digestibility and caloric value of different botanical parts in corn residue to cattle?1

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to measure rates of ruminal disappearance, and energy and nutrient availability and N balance among cows fed corn husks, leaves, or stalks. Ruminal disappearance was estimated after incubation of polyester bags containing husks, leaves or stalks in 2 separate ruminally cannulated cows in a completely randomized design. Organic matter (OM) that initially disappeared was greatest for stalks and least for husks and leaves (P < 0.01), but amounts of NDF that initially disappeared was greatest for husks, intermediate for stalks, and least for leaves (P < 0.01). Amounts of DM and OM that slowly disappeared were greatest in husks, intermediate in leaves, and least in stalks (P < 0.01). However, amounts of NDF that slowly disappeared were greatest in leaves, intermediate in husks, and least in stalks (P < 0.01). Rate of DM and OM disappearance was greater for leaves, intermediate for husks and least for stalks, but rate of NDF disappearance was greatest for stalks, intermediate for leaves, and least for husks (P < 0.01). Energy and nutrient availability in husks, leaves, or stalks were measured by feeding ruminally cannulated cows husk-, leaf-, or stalk-based diets in a replicated Latin square. Digestible energy lost as methane was less (P = 0.02) when cows were fed leaves in comparison to husks or stalks, and metabolizable energy (Mcal/kg DM) was greater (P = 0.03) when cows were fed husks and leaves compared with stalks. Heat production (Mcal/d) was not different (P = 0.74) between husks, leaves, or stalks; however, amounts of heat produced as a proportion of digestible energy intake were less (P = 0.05) among cows fed leaves in comparison to stalks or husks. Subsequently, there was a tendency (P = 0.06) for net energy available for maintenance from leaves (1.42 Mcal/kg DM) to be greater than stalks (0.91 Mcal/kg DM), and husks (1.30 Mcal/kg DM) were intermediate. Nitrogen balance was greater when cows were fed leaves, intermediate for husks, and least for stalks (P = 0.01). Total tract digestion of NDF was greater (P < 0.01) for husks and leaves compared with stalks. Husks had greater (P = 0.04) OM digestibility in comparison to stalks, and leaves were intermediate. Apparently, greater production of methane from husks in comparison to leaves limited amounts of energy available for maintenance from husks even though total-tract nutrient digestion was greatest when cows were fed husks or leaves.

Fibrolytic enzymes improve the nutritive value of high-moisture corn for finishing bulls

“…In the current study, the absence of animal performance results may be attributed to the lower digestibility of the NDF (less than 23.85% in 24-h NDF digestibility) for the SNAP silages than for the WPCS. This reduction in the SNAP silages is related to an increased amount of less-digestible components, such as cob husks (Klopfenstein et al, 1987;Petzel et al, 2019). Although the pef > 8 mm and pef > 4 mm fractions of the WPCS were higher than those of the SNAP, the decreased digestibility of the SNAP silages might have resulted in similar chewing activity (Corrêa et al, 2003;Sá Neto et al, 2014), although chewing activity was not measured in our study.…”

High‐cut harvesting of maize stover and genotype choice can provide improved feed for ruminants and stubble for conservation agriculture

“…Furthermore, the differences in TN concentration and IVDMD of each morphological fraction of the stover in the current study were in agreement with previous reports (Li et al., 2014; Lynch et al., 2014; Tang et al., 2008; Tolera & Sundstøl, 1999). It is well established that in grass plants such as maize the leaf is higher in N concentration and DM (or organic matter) digestibility than the stems (Petzel et al., 2019; Tolera & Sundstøl, 1999).…”

In situ techniques to predict in vivo digestibility and to evaluate the impact of flint maize processing methods on degradation parameters

“…On the other hand, in the SNAP-80-based diet, the inclusion of stalklage may have reduced the quality of the DM components. Stalks have greater amounts of lignin (10.8% DM basis) than husks (6.1% DM basis) and leaves (4.5% DM basis), thus, the fibre in stalks is less accessible to ruminal fermentation (Petzel et al ., 2019).…”

“…Initially, the animals were individually identified with ear tags, treated for the elimination of internal and external parasites and, housed in a concrete floor tie-stall barn that was equipped with water and feed troughs. The experimental periods were divided into two subperiods of 12 days (Richards et al ., 2002; Machado et al ., 2016; Petzel et al ., 2019) for dietary adaptation and 5 days for in vivo digestibility and in situ degradability technique.…”