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. 2017 Sep 1;1(3):382–396. doi: 10.2527/tas2017.0046

Table 7.

Effect of corn silage and modified distillers grains with solubles (MDGS) inclusion on pH and ruminal volatile fatty acid measurements (Exp. 3)

Treatment1 P-value2
Item 95:0 15:20 45:20 15:40 45:40 SEM F-test Int. Silage MDGS
Ruminal pH
    Maximum pH 7.24a 6.65bc 6.77b 6.58c 7.02b 0.18 < 0.01 0.49 0.04 0.88
    Average pH 6.69a 5.72cd 5.99bc 5.67d 6.20b 0.18 < 0.01 0.35 0.01 0.41
    Minimum pH 5.94a 5.01c 5.22bc 5.06c 5.36b 0.14 < 0.01 0.55 0.03 0.31
    Magnitude 1.30b 1.64a 1.55a 1.52a 1.67a 0.15 0.02 0.98 0.70 0.16
    Variance 0.12 0.22 0.18 0.13 0.16 0.06 0.20 0.80 0.95 0.13
    Time < 5.6, min/d 7c 690a 335b 752a 212bc 149 < 0.01 0.61 < 0.01 0.57
    Area < 5.63 1b 247a 92ab 215a 39b 84 0.04 0.81 0.06 0.42
Ruminal VFA 4
    Total, mM 91.3c 113.2a 106.6b 102.1b 95.0bc 6.5 < 0.01 0.61 0.01 0.03
    Acetate5 59.2a 50.1c 54.0b 48.3c 53.0b 1.7 < 0.01 0.31 < 0.01 0.54
    Propionate5 28.5c 35.3a 31.5b 38.2a 30.4bc 2.3 < 0.01 0.11 < 0.01 0.68
    Butyrate5 9.4bc 11.6ab 11.3bc 10.4c 12.9a 1.7 < 0.01 < 0.01 0.07 0.51
    A:P6 2.26a 1.53c 1.86b 1.40c 1.85b 0.16 < 0.01 0.95 0.01 0.31
a–d

Within a row, values lacking common superscripts differ when F-test was significant (P < 0.10).

1

95:0 = 95% corn silage, 0% MDGS; 15:20 = 15% Corn Silage, 20% MDGS; 15:40 = 15% Corn Silage, 40% MDGS; 45:20 = 45% Corn Silage, 20% MDGS; 45:40 = 45% Corn Silage, 40% MDGS.

2

F-test = P-value for the overall F-test of all diets. Int. = P-value for the interaction of corn silage × MDGS. Silage = P-value for the main effect of corn silage inclusion. MDGS = P-value for the main effect of MDGS inclusion.

3

Area < 5.6 = ruminal pH units below 5.6 by minute.

4

Ruminal volatile fatty acids (VFA).

5

VFA concentraton in mol/100 mol.

6

Acetate:Propionate.