Fibers and cell wall content and in vitro digestibility of differant maize hybrids

Abstract

Analysis of the fiber or cell wall present in forages is of major concern in ruminant nutrition because diets often contain large amounts of forage, and the fiber fraction affects both feed intake and animal performance. Research has revealed that plant genetics can affect the quality and digestibility of whole plant maize silage. All carbohydrates in plant feeds are grouped into: 1. Structural carbohydrates (carbohydrates of cell walls) including NDF (neutral detergent fibers-hemicellulose+cellulose+lignin), ADF (acid detergent fiberscellulose+lignin), ADL (lignin), and 2. Non-structural carbohydrates-NFC (carbohydrates located inside the plant cell) made of starch, sugars and pectin. The aim of this present study was to observe quality parameters of ZP hybrids biomass with different genetic background for silage and to determine the relationship of these parameters, as well as, their effects on the digestibility of maize biomass dry matter. The contents of lignocelluloses fraction were determined by the modified Van Soest detergent method while in vitro digestibility of the whole plant was done by the Aufréré method. Obtained results showed that the NDF, ADF and ADL contents in the whole maize plant of the observed different ZP hybrids varied from 42.6% to 50.9%, 19.3% to 25.7%, and 1.6% to 2.5%, respectively. The difference in the digestibility of the dry matter of the whole plant between hybrids amounted to 10.4%. The differences in the contents of lignocelluloses fraction affected the differences in digestibility of dry matter.