Abstract
Correlations between chemical composition, enzymatic hydrolysate gross energy (EHGE), and true metabolizable energy (TME) of corn for ducks were investigated. Twenty-two corn samples were collected from various regions in 11 provinces of China. The crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), Ash, gross energy (GE), dry matter (DM), amylopectin (AP), amylose (AM), total starch (TS), and AP/AM were determined for each sample. Five of the samples of corn were chosen at the mean, mean ± 1 standard deviation (SD), and mean ± 2 SD based on AP/AM. The EHGE of these samples was analysed using the pepsin-artificial small intestinal fluid enzymatic method. These five samples were also force-fed to male Cherry Valley ducks to assay their TME. Finally, correlation analyses were performed, and regression equations were established. Ash content, GE, and TS were highly related to EHGE. Univariate prediction equations were EHGE = 11.8566Ash-0.0421 (P <0.05), EHGE = 0.1535GE1.5642 (P <0.05), and EHGE = 0.1020TS1.1561 (P <0.05). The total starch, AP/AM, and ash of the chemical compositions were highly related to TME. The corresponding univariate regression equations were TME = 21.9355TS-0.0910 (P <0.05), TME = 15.6590AP/AM-0.0559 (P <0.05), and TME = 15.0778Ash0.0442 (P <0.05). The mean EHGE was equivalent to 78.5% of TME, but their correlation coefficient was low. In conclusion, chemical composition was predictive of EHGE and TME of corn samples for ducks, but the correlation of EHGE and TME was low
 Keywords: Cherry Valley duck, amylopectin, amylose, true metabolizable energy
Highlights
Duck production and breeding are important at present (Bond et al, 2008; Lin et al, 2014)
Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) can be an effective indicator of the True metabolizable energy (TME) of wheat and wheat by-products for ducks (Wan et al, 2009; Mazhari et al, 2011). These results suggest strongly that the chemical composition of a feedstuff may be used to predict TME
AM, and AP were determined using a modification of the Sene et al (1997) method whereby corn was passed through a 100 mesh screen
Summary
Duck production and breeding are important at present (Bond et al, 2008; Lin et al, 2014). Corn is the commonest grain feedstuff and is used widely in duck production. It is rich in starch, which is a direct and effective material to supply energy (Theurer et al, 1999). Traditional biological methods contained feeding and metabolic tests to determine the energy of feedstuffs and the digestibility of nutrients. These methods were visual and scientific, but they were time consuming, expensive, and difficult to standardize. It was crucial improve the determination of TME
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