Assessment of field traits, nutrient composition and digestible amino acids of corns with different endosperm textures for poultry and swine

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate field traits and nutrient composition of four corn types presenting distinct endosperm textures. A total of 213 samples of different corn hybrids from a field experiment conducted in Brazil were separated into 4 groups according to the endosperm texture classification: dent (n = 30), flint (n = 51), semi-dent (n = 60) and semi-flint (n = 72). Crop yield, thousand grains weight and damaged grains were determined. Nutritional composition as well as digestible amino acids (AA) and metabolizable energy values for poultry and swine of the four corn types were predicted by near infrared spectroscopy. Data were submitted to analysis of variance and mean differences of corn types were separated by Tukey’s test at 5% of significance. Principal component analysis was performed for the main nutritional variables and damaged grains. Starch concentration was greater (P < 0.01) in dent than in flint corn. Dent corn presented higher percentage of damaged grains (P < 0.01) than the other types. Flint corn had the lowest crop yield (P < 0.001); however, this corn texture presented the higher crude protein, total Cys, Thr, Arg, Ile, Leu, Val, His, Gly, Ser, Pro, Ala and Glu contents than the remaining three types (P < 0.001). The flint type had also the highest (P < 0.0001) content of most of digestible AA for swine and poultry. Energy values were not different among corn types (P > 0.05). In conclusion, field traits and nutritional composition of corn vary depending on the characteristic of its endosperm, and such differences should be considered by the corn and feed production chains.