EVALUATION OF TWO MAIZE ACCESSIONS FOR FORAGE YIELD, NUTRIENT COMPOSITION AND DIGESTIBILITY
EVALUATION OF TWO MAIZE ACCESSIONS FOR FORAGE YIELD, NUTRIENT COMPOSITION AND DIGESTIBILITY
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Date
2012-10
Authors
AKPENSUEN, Tersur Theophilus
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Abstract
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the forage yield, nutrient composition and
digestibility of two maize accessions - West Atlantic Seed Alliance 1 (WASA1) and a
cultivar from Shika tagged (SHIMAZ). The maize seeds were planted in plots of 5 X 5m2
size with four replicates for each accession. Six Red Sokoto goats (3 for each accession)
were used for digestibility study in a completely randomized design. The results showed
that, there was no difference (P>0.05) between the accessions for plant height and number
of leaves at 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks after sowing (WAS), but leaf area index (LAI) was higher
(P<0.05) in SHIMAZ than WASA1, (1.6 vs. 1.2) and (5.2 vs. 4.8) at 6 and 10WAS
respectively. The number of leaves per plant, green leaves, leaf area and forage yields
harvested at 91, 105 and 112 days after sowing (DAS) were not significant (P>0.05), while
leaf area and LAI were higher (P<0.05) in WASA1 than in SHIMAZ. The percentage dry
matter (DM) content and cobs ratio were significantly (P<0.05) lower in WASA1, although
leaf, stem and husks ratios were higher (P<0.01) at various stages of harvest. The crude
protein (CP) and nitrogen free-extract (NFE) were higher (P<0.01) in WASA1 accession
while crude fibre (CF) was higher (P<0.01) in SHIMAZ at various stages of harvest. Leaf
ratio was higher (P<0.01) in SHIMAZ than WASA1 (37.8 vs. 29.2%) respectively, while
stem ratio was higher (P<0.05) in WASA1 than SHIMAZ (33.4 vs. 24.9%) respectively at
dough stage. There was no difference (P>0.05) in forage yield, husks and tassels ratios, leaf
area, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and proximate components between the two accessions
at dough stage. The ash (10.8%) content in WASA1 silage was higher (P<0.01) than that of
6.8% in SHIMAZ, CP was also higher (P<0.01) in WASA1 than SHIMAZ (8.6 vs. 7.3%)
respectively. The ash, EE and CP contents were significantly (P<001) higher in silage than
fresh forage of WASA1 and there was no difference (P>0.05) in EE, CF and CP for both
fresh forage and silage of SHIMAZ accession. There was also no difference (P>0.05) in dry
matter intake (DMI) and crude protein intake (CPI). Apparent nutrient digestibility were
not significant (P>0.05) except for crude protein digestibility (CPD) which was higher
(P<0.05) in WASA1 than SHIMAZ (73.4 vs. 61.7%) and (82.7 vs. 76.9%) for forage and
silage respectively. It is concluded that the two maize accessions can be grown in the
Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria for animal feeding where the experiment was carried
out, but SHIMAZ accession may be preferred due to it’s high biomass
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO
UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT
FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS DEGREE IN SCIENCE (ANIMAL SCIENCE)
THE DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE,
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
OCTOBER, 2012
Keywords
EVALUATION, MAIZE, ACCESSIONS, FORAGE, YIELD,, NUTRIENT, COMPOSITION, DIGESTIBILITY