ABSTRACT The intercropping between maize and forage species is an alternative commonly used within farming systems. Competition among crops may be a limiting factor in intercropping, compromising yield. Although necessary, the literature does not provide satisfactory answers on interaction of launched market recently, such as BRS Zuri, intercropped with maize. Therefore, techniques use herbicid...

Forage deficiency is the bottleneck that restricts development of plateau animal husbandry. Maize (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max L.) intercropping can improve forage biomass yield and silage quality. This experiment was conducted in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to explore effects four maize varieties (M1, Rongyu Silage No. 1; M2, Yayu 04889; M3, Demeiya M4, Zhenghong 505) on yield, n...

The most valuable organs of plants are often particularly rich in essential elements, but also very well defended. This creates a dilemma for herbivores that need to maximise energy intake while minimising intoxication. We investigated how the specialist root herbivore Diabrotica virgifera solves this conundrum when feeding on wild and cultivated maize plants. We found that crown roots of maize...

The role of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in explaining the less efficient utilization of metabolizable energy (ME) in growing lambs fed forage rather than concentrate-based diets was investigated by feeding forage (legume-grass silage) and concentrate (whole shelled maize) diets, at isoenergetic intakes (ME basis), using five groups of lambs. One group of seven lambs was an initial slaughte...

Replacing grass silage with maize silage results in a fundamental change in the ratio of structural to non-structural carbohydrates with commensurate changes in rumen fermentation patterns and nutrient utilisation. This study investigated the effects of feeding four forage mixtures, namely grass silage (G); 67 g/100 g grass silage + 33 g/100 g maize silage (GGM); 67 g/100 g maize silage + 33/10...

Therefore, enhancing the quality of grain sorghum stover may offer an opportunity to add value to the overall Nearly 3 million hectares of grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L). system when post grain harvest stover residue is used Moench] are harvested in the USA each year. It may be possible to add value to crop and animal systems by enhancing the digestibility as a forage base for livestock. of...

Increased use of whole-plant maize for anaerobic digestion (AD) in Europe raises the question: Are maize cultivars developed for use in animal nutrition equally appropriate as feedstock for AD or should different phenotypes be selected? The main objective in growing whole-plant maize as feedstock for AD is maximum output of methane per hectare. There is less need for rapidly digested plant comp...

Maize is an important crop for food, feed, forage, and fuel across tropical and temperate areas of the world. Diversity studies at genetic, molecular, and functional levels have revealed that, tropical maize germplasm, landraces, and wild relatives harbor a significantly wider range of genetic variation. Among all types of markers, SNP markers are increasingly the marker-of-choice for all genom...