PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tománková, Olga
AU  - Homolka, Petr
TI  - Comparison of ruminal degradability of starch of maize grain and maize silages by in vitro method
DP  - 2014 Oct 14
TA  - Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis
PG  - 165--170
VI  - 57
IP  - 1
AID - 10.11118/actaun200957010165
IS  - 12118516
AB  - The objective of this experiment was to determine the ruminal degradability of starch using the in vitro method. Maize silages from whole plants (MS), maize cob silage prepared by ensiling of the cobs with bracts (MCS), and maize grain silages (MGS) were compared with maize grain (MG). The tested feeds differed in total starch contents. Averaged starch contents with standard deviation values were 343.3 ± 18.7 g/kg for MS; 522.0 ± 8.9 g/kg for MCS; 727.9 ± 16.9 g/kg for MGS; and 682.8 ± 22.6 g/kg dry matter for MG. The in vitro ruminal degradability of starch was determined by the feed incubation period - for 2, 4, 6, 16 and 24 hours. The higher degradation was observed at the 4-h of incubation for maize silage from whole plants (46.6 ± 4.9 %), maize cob silage (41.2 ± 1.6 %) and maize grain silage (39.7 ± 1.4 %) as compared to maize grain (32.0 ± 1.0 %). Enhanced values of the in vitro ruminal degradability of starch continued to increase until the 24-h of incubation, when the differences between silages and maize grain were balanced. A significant difference of the curves of degradability profile was found between silages and maize grain (P < 0.0001) but was not significant between MS, MCS and MGS.