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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2017
Forage maize is mainly composed of starch in the ears and cell walls in the stover. Upon feeding maize to cattle starch can be fermented in the rumen, but after bypassing the rumen it can also be digested in the intestines. There is not much knowledge on the influence of maturation of the maize plants on the amount of rumen fermentable starch and on the kinetics of the rumen degradable part. There is also not much insight in the variation in rumen fermentation properties by different genotypes (cultivars). In many feed evaluation systems the total cell wall degradability of maize is valued and not its rate of degradation in the rumen. To get insight in the changes in cell wall and starch quality 4 different maize cultivars were harvested during the growing season and analysed for chemical composition and rumen fermentation kinetics, determined with the gas production technique.