Valoración nutricional de dos variedades de maíz usadas en la producción de forraje para bovinos

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the Alfredo Volio Mata Experimental Station of the University of Costa Rica, located to an altitude of 1 542 masl, with an average annual rainfall of 2 050 mm. The purpose of the study was to determine forage quality of two corn cultivars: hybrid and native, evaluated at the same age and in similar physiological stage. It was determined in both cultivars that forage quality differed significantly (P≤0,05) when varying the distance among plants. For example, crude protein in the whole plant oscillated between 8,94% and 9,96%. It was also observed that the cultivar influenced significantly (P≤0,05) the chemical composition of the different plant fractions. When comparing dry matter content of the hybrid corn with the
native corn in similar physiological stage, values of 15,76 % and 12,05 %, respectively were obtained. For crude protein content, there were not significant differences among cultivars. Acid detergent fiber and cellulose content in the whole plant were about 12 % lower in the hybrid than in the native cultivar at the same age.