Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Affecting Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) Digestibility of Vegetative Tissues in Corn for Silage

Gonzalo Ferreira (), Sarah E. Thomas, Christy L. Teets and Benjamin A. Corl
Additional contact information
Gonzalo Ferreira: School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Sarah E. Thomas: School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Christy L. Teets: School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Benjamin A. Corl: School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-9

Abstract: Dairy farming requires forages with high neutral detergent fiber (NDF) to maximize milk production, sustain cows’ health, and ensure the economic and environmental sustainability of the dairy farm. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of the brown midrib (BMR) genotype, agronomic environment, and maturity at harvest on the NDF digestibility (NDFD) and the composition of the cell wall of corn plant tissues. In this plot study, one conventional and one BMR corn hybrid were planted and subjected to an abundant (60,000 seeds/ha and 225 kg N/ha) and a limited (90,000 seeds/ha and 180 kg N/ha) environment. The ruminal NDFD was determined in vitro in leaf blades, leaf sheaths, and stem internodes. Cell walls from BMR corn had greater NDFD than cell walls from conventional corn on most tissues. Relative to the abundant environment, the limited environment had minimal effects on NDFD. As maturity advanced, NDFD decreased for various but not all tissues. In conclusion, under the conditions of this study, intrinsic characteristics of corn, such as genotype and maturity at harvest, had a greater effect on NDFD than environment or agronomic management.

Keywords: environment; cell wall; fiber; lignin; brown midrib; digestibility (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
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/8/1485/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/8/1485/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:8:p:1485-:d:1203266

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().