Fibrolytic enzymes improve the nutritive value of high-moisture corn for finishing bulls

Abstract

Exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (EFE) improve the energy availability of grains for nonruminant animals by reducing encapsulation of the endosperm nutrients within grain cell walls; however, these benefits are unknown in the treatment of corn-based silage for cattle. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of adding EFE at ensiling on the nutritive value of high-moisture corn (HMC) and snaplage (SNAP) for finishing Nellore bulls. The EFE dose was 100 g/Mg fresh matter in both HMC and SNAP. Diets were 1) a SNAP + HMC control (without enzyme addition); 2) SNAP + HMC EFE (with enzymes); 3) a whole-plant corn silage (WPCS) + HMC control (without enzyme addition); and 4) WPCS + HMC EFE (with enzymes). In addition to the silages, the diets were also composed of soybean hulls, soybean meal, and mineral–vitamin supplement. The statistical design was a randomized complete block with a factorial arrangement of treatments, and the experiment lasted 122 d. For in situ and in vitro analyses, 2 cannulated dry cows were used. There was no interaction between the diets and EFE application (ADG, P = 0.92; DMI, P = 0.77; G:F, P = 0.70), and there was no difference between the SNAP and WPCS diets regarding the DMI (P = 0.53), ADG (P = 0.35), and feed efficiency (ADG:DMI, P = 0.83). Adding EFE to the HMC and SNAP at ensiling did not affect ADG but decreased DMI (P = 0.01), resulting in greater feed efficiency by 5.91% (P = 0.04) than that observed in animals fed diets without the addition of EFE. Addition of EFE to HMC resulted in reduced NDF content and increased in vitro and in situ DM digestibility compared with untreated HMC. No effects were found for the addition of EFE to SNAP. Fecal starch decreased with EFE application (P = 0.05). Therefore, the diet energy content (TDN, NEm, and NEg) calculated from animal performance increased (P = 0.01) with the addition of EFE to HMC. In conclusion, exchanging the NDF from WPCS with that from SNAP did not affect the performance of finishing cattle, whereas the addition of EFE to HMC at ensiling improved animal performance by increasing the energy availability of the grain.

Substitution of dry corn grain by rehydrated and ensiled corn grain, finely or coarsely ground, on performance of young bulls finished in feedlot

“…The percentage of fecal starch was influenced by the treatments, in which the highest starch content in the feces was verified when the animals were fed dry corn ground to larger particles, demonstrating that when the corn was rehydrated and ensiled, it provided better utilization of this nutrient. Similar to the present study, Cozannet et al (2018) showed an increase in the energy of corn-based diets and a reduction in fecal starch content of bulls fed rehydrated and ensiled corn grain (Salvo et al, 2020).…”

“…The inclusion of rehydrated and ensiled corn in diets for finishing cattle can increase feed efficiency by an average of 14% as a result of an average reduction of 12% in feed intake (Tonroy et al, 1974;Benton et al, 2005;Caetano et al, 2015;Caetano et al, 2019;Paschoaloto et al, 2019;Salvo et al, 2020). However, these benefits and results of using grain ensiling are based on major factors: moisture and nutritional content, particle size, quality of the ensiling process, and length of storage time (Owens et al, 1997;Rémond et al, 2004;Hoffman et al, 2011;Silva et al, 2018;Gomes et al, 2020;Salvo et al, 2020).…”

Evaluation of Increasing Dietary Concentrations of a Multi-Enzyme Complex in Feedlot Lambs’ Rations

“…Data from our experiment indicate that the specific M-E evaluated had positive effects in a diet with corn silage as the only forage. The data indicate that cellulases and xylanases within the preparation acted on the cell walls of the corn silage and on the xylan present in the grains [46], and β-glucanase acted on non-starch polysaccharides [47]. This substrate hydrolysis combined to increase the digestible energy, which was confirmed in the estimates of the net energy retained in the lambs.…”

In situ techniques to predict in vivo digestibility and to evaluate the impact of flint maize processing methods on degradation parameters

“…Immediately after the harvest, approximately 3000 kg of maize grain was ground in a hammer mill (DMP-2, Nogueiras, São João da Boa Vista, São Paulo, Brazil). Grains were broken into four to six pieces to achieve less than 5% whole kernels and 20% of fines (Hicks and Lake, 2006; Lardy and Anderson, 2016 b ; Salvo et al ., 2020) and ensiled with a mean density of 1000 kg of fresh feed/m 3 . Moreover, about 6000 kg of whole ear maize (containing grain, cobs and husks) were chopped in a hammer and knife mill (DPM-JÚNIOR, Nogueiras, São João da Boa Vista, São Paulo, Brazil) and ensiled with a mean density of 600 kg of fresh feed/m 3 to obtain the SNAP.…”