Table 3.

Ruminal degradability parameters of diets comprised of various corn silages

Items	Treatment				p-value
	WPCS	WPCSW	CS	SCS
DM
Soluble fraction (% of DM)	20.3±3.4a	12.7±3.0b	10.4±2.8b	19.5±2.8a	0.010
Slowly degradable fraction (% of DM)	68.1±5.2b	74.3±9.9a	75.9±10.7ab	69.9±5.0b	0.015
Undegradable fraction (% of DM)	11.6±1.4b	13.0±1.6a	13.7±1.6a	10.6±1.1b	0.017
Degradation rate (%/h)	2.3±0.3	1.6±0.7	2.1±0.8	2.5±0.7	0.288
Effective degradability (% of DM)	40.8±6.3a	32.2±4.1c	30.8±3.3d	34.5±5.0b	<0.001
CP
Soluble fraction (% of CP)	20.9±3.0a	15.1±2.3b	14.3±1.3b	20.4±2.4a	0.029
Slowly degradable fraction (% of CP)	74.9±5.7	77.2±4.3	72.9±5.7	74.8±3.2	0.345
Undegradable fraction (% of CP)	4.2±0.2c	7.7±0.4b	12.8±0.9a	4.85±0.3c	0.032
Degradation rate (%/h)	2.3±0.4	2.5±0.7	2.5±0.7	2.4±0.2	0.837
Effective degradability (% of CP)	46.2±2.2a	39.4±5.7c	37.4±2.8d	43.7±3.0b	<0.001
NDF
Soluble fraction (% of NDF)	11.4±1.6a	7.9±1.2b	7.1±1.8b	9.7±1.3ab	0.044
Slowly degradable fraction (% of NDF)	65.6±3.4a	71.2±2.1a	60.9±2.6b	69.5±4.5a	0.030
Undegradable fraction (% of NDF)	23.0±2.7b	20.9±2.6b	32.0±4.3a	20.8±2.1b	0.035
Degradation rate (%/h)	1.9±0.7	1.8±0.7	2.0±0.8	2.1±0.7	0.400
Effective degradability (% of NDF)	33.2±3.3b	31.0±2.6c	29.1±2.2d	34.7±2.3a	<0.001
ADF
Soluble fraction (% of ADF)	12.8±2.5a	6.1±1.3b	6.1±1.27b	7.4±2.1b	0.027
Slowly degradable fraction (% of ADF)	59.4±5.4b	68.0±4.3a	60.0±4.03b	65.1±4.1b	0.042
Undegradable fraction (% of ADF)	27.8±3.1b	25.9±2.8b	33.9±3.6a	27.5±2.4b	0.023
Degradation rate (%/h)	1.9±0.711	1.6±0.7	2.1±0.5	2.6±0.6	0.276
Effective degradability (% of ADF)	33.2±1.9	27.1±3.0	29.8±1.3	29.8±2.1	0.052

WPCS, whole plant corn silage-based diet; WPCSW, mixed forages-based diet was formulated by substituting a portion of whole plant corn silage with wheat straw; SCS, sweet corn stalklage-based diet; CS, corn stalklage-based diet; DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; ADF, acid detergent fiber.

^a–dMeans within a row with different superscripts differ (p<0.05).