RAJAN KATOCH*, APOORVA, ANKUR TRIPATHI AND N. V. MANOJ
Biochemistry Laboratory,
Department of Crop Improvement, CSKHPKV, Palampur-176 062 (H. P.), India
*(e-mail : rajankatoch@yahoo.com)
(Received : 10 February 2021; Accepted : 30 March 2021)
SUMMARY
To improve quality and digestibility of maize stover for meeting the nutritional requirements of livestock, it was subjected to different pretreatments. Treatment of maize stover with sodium chloride (2%) resulted improvement in CP content (18.43%) and in vitro dry matter digestibility (16.80%). The decrease in ADF (7.35%) and cellulose content (3.40%) was also observed after the treatment. Pre-treatment of stover with calcium hydroxide revealed increase in total carbohydrate and ash content of stover. The calcium hydroxide treatment was also effective in lowering the NDF (8.80%) and ADL content (55.30%) of stover. Treatment with ammonia resulted significant reduction in silica (52.63%), total phenolic (67.70%), simple phenolic (66.90%) and total tannins content (68.60%). Maize stover inoculated with Pseudomonas fluorescens revealed increase in CP content (49.10%) and decrease in ADF (5.40%), cellulose (1.60%) and simple phenolic (59.40%) contents. Treatment
with Trichoderma viride resulted 27.70% increase in total carbohydrate content of stover. Highest reduction in silica content (47.40%) was recorded with Saccharomyces cerevisae treatment. Inoculation of Trichoderma harzianum lowered the NDF (5.79%), hemicellulose (16.50%), total phenols (34.40%) and total tannins (18.90%) content of stover. This treatment was also effective in improving stover digestibility up to 17.84%. The study indicated that treatment of maize stover either with alkali or inoculation with Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma harzianum are effective for improving nutritional quality of maize stover.
Key words:: Maize stover, nutritive quality, delignification, digestibility, chemical and biological treatments