IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ijameu/262375.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Maize cultivars for anaerobic digestion and animal nutrition in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Wilkinson, Mike

Abstract

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 components such as starch in AD feedstock than in a ruminant diet because the typical digestion period is several weeks for AD compared with less than two days for the rumen. The ideal phenotype of maize for AD is a very high yielding plant with a low lodging score. Metabolisable energy (ME) intake from forage is a limiting factor to output of animal product per head, thus, in addition to high dry matter yield per hectare, a high concentration of ME in the maize plant is desirable. Major factors contributing to high ME in whole-crop maize are starch and digestible plant cell wall. The ideal phenotype of maize for animal nutrition is therefore a plant with a high proportion of ear, a low concentration of lignin, high cell wall digestibility and low lodging score.

Suggested Citation

  • Wilkinson, Mike, 2015. "Maize cultivars for anaerobic digestion and animal nutrition in Europe," International Journal of Agricultural Management, Institute of Agricultural Management, vol. 4(4), July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ijameu:262375
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.262375
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/262375/files/s2.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/262375/files/s2.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.262375?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:ijameu:262375. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifmaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.