Impact—Shredding Processing of Whole-Plant Corn: Machine Performance, Physical Properties, and In Situ Ruminant Digestion

David A. Pintens, Kevin J. Shinners (), Joshua C. Friede, Matthew F. Digman and Kenneth F. Kalscheur
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David A. Pintens: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Kevin J. Shinners: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Joshua C. Friede: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Matthew F. Digman: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Kenneth F. Kalscheur: U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: An intensive processing mechanism that combined impact and shredding was applied to create physical disruption of whole-plant corn as a means to increase in situ dry matter (DM) digestion in lactating dairy cows. A ratio of treatment leachate conductivity relative to that of an ultimately processed treatment, defined as a processing level index, was used to quantify material physical disruption. Two processing levels were compared to a control treatment, which applied conventional chopping and kernel processing. The non-grain fraction was substantially size-reduced by processing such that only 28% to 51% by mass of this material remained greater than 6.4 mm length. After processing with the experimental processor, greater than 85% of kernels passed through a 4.75 mm screen, and the corn silage processing score (CSPS) was 18 to 27 percentage points greater than the control. The highly fiberized material was more compliant; thus, compacted density was 9% to 17% greater than the control. During in situ digestion experiments, processing significantly increased the rapidly soluble DM fraction by 10 percentage points and the extent of DM disappearance by 5 percentage points through 16 h incubation.

Keywords: corn; digestion; fiber; hammermill; impact; particle size; processing; ruminant; shredding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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