Comparison of chemical contents and in vitro nutrient digestibility of maize stalks from high oil maize with conventional or specific fodder maize

摘要

Maize stalks of five cultivars, namely two high oil maize (HOM: HOM 647 and HOM 298), two conventional maize (CM: CAU 80 and CAU 3138) and a fodder maize (FM: Qingsi #1), were selected to examine the effect of maize cultivars on chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of their stalks. The result showed that HOM stalks had higher nutrient contents and higher digestibility of dry matter and neutral detergent fibre than CM stalks and FM stalks. Gas production of HOM stalks was greater than that of CM or FM stalks at each time point during 120 h in vitro incubation.