2018/10/25 by Georg Terler, Leonhard Gruber, L. Gruber +2
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Crop Yield and Soil Fertility #Phytase and its Applications #Ruminant Nutrition and Digestive Physiology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/gfs.12390
openalex publication_date 2018/10/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract Nutrient composition and digestibility of stover contribute markedly to the nutritive value of forage maize in cattle feeding. Low stover digestibility limits the quality of whole plant maize silage ( WPMS ) and should therefore be prevented by optimizing management of WPMS production. A project was carried out to analyse nutrient composition and ruminal nutrient degradability of ensiled stover of nine different current maize varieties, which were planted in 3 years and harvested at three maturity stages (50, 55 and 60% ear dry‐matter [ DM ] content). Variety and harvest date had a significant impact ( p < 0.05) on crude protein ( CP ) and metabolizable energy content, whereas fibre content and non‐fibre components were not affected by these factors. In contrast, the potential and effective degradability ( ED ) of organic matter ( OM ), CP and neutral detergent fibre ( NDF ) were significantly influenced by variety and harvest date. The ED 5 ( ED at 5% per hour passage rate) of different varieties ranged from 22.9% to 29.3% for OM , from 66.2% to 71.4% for CP and from 17.3% to 20.5% for NDF . The ED 5 of OM , CP and NDF declined significantly by 4.1%, 2.5% and 2.1% units between the second and third maturity stage. Almost all investigated parameters were significantly influenced by year. Significant differences between varieties indicate that there is a potential for improvement of stover degradability through breeding. Harvest ear DM content should not exceed 55%, because nutritive value of ensiled stover declines significantly beyond this value, which could negatively affect WPMS quality in cattle feeding.