Concentrations and Ruminal Degradabilities of Amino Acids from Wheat and Triticale Forage and Grain

Abstract

AbstractA study was conducted to provide comparative data on amino acid (AA) concentrations in forage and grain of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and triticale (✕Triticosecale Wittmack), before and after ruminal degradation, while assessing forage and grain yield potential. Forage samples of Terral ‘817’ wheat, ‘Jenkins’ triticale, and ‘Morrison’ triticale were harvested at growth stages 5.0, 6.5, and 8.0 and AA concentrations and yield determined. Wheat and triticale forage samples were incubated in Dacron bags for 24 h in the rumen of cows to determine the comparative ruminal degradability of their EAA. Forage production among the three cultivars in 1987‐1988 was similar, but in 1988‐1989, Jenkins produced 15% more forage than Terral 817, which produced 14% more forage than Morrison. Essential amino acid concentrations in Jenkins triticale forage were equal to or greater than Terral 817 wheat or Morrison triticale; however, Morrison grain had a greater concentration of all EAA, except lysine, than did grain of Terral 817 or Jenkins. The EAA in Terral 817 forage averaged 25% higher in potential degradability in the rumen than EAA in Jenkins. Terral 817 and Morrison maintained a higher grain yield response to forage removal in contrast to Jenkins. Differences in forage yield, grain yield, and EAA concentration could not always be separated by species. The data suggest that triticale may produce forage and grain yields equal or greater than that of winter wheat while providing a better source of ruminally undegradable EAA.