Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange
Abstract
Twelve steers (body weight 955 Ib + 37) were allotted to a 4 x 4 Latin square design digestion trial to examine the effects of corn processing on feed utilization. The grain component of the diet was either dry whole corn (WC), dry rolled corn (RC), corn reconstituted 12 hours before rolling (RRC), or corn reconstituted with a commercial surfactant3 12 hours before rolling (CRC). Dry matter content of the WC, RC, RRC, and CRC diets were 87.91, 87.30, 82.1 9, and 82.14%, respectively. Treatment had no effect on the digestibilities of dry matter (71.00% ± 1.57), organic matter (72.22% ± 1.531, crude protein (57.54% ± 1.66), neutral detergent fiber (52.68% ± 3.071, or starch (85.67% + .98). Neutral detergent fiber digestion was affected by period, but this was not related to bulk density of the corn which ranged from 43 to 56 Ib/bu over periods. Processing did not affect dry matter intake (21.76 Ib/day ± .41), although reconstitution depressed (P \u3c .01) dry matter intake as a percentage of body weight (2.19, 2.24, 2.1 1, and 2.1496, respectively). To quantify differences in particle size, processed grain samples were separated with #5, 7, 10, and 18 mesh sieves. Mean percentages retained on a #5 mesh sieve were 85.26, 58.74, 84.27, and 83.57% for WC, RC, RRC, and CRC, respectively. Subsequent separated fractions of WC and the reconstituted treatments were similar