Effect of variety and drying method on the nutritive value of corn for growing pigs

Background：This experiment was conducted to determine the nutritive value of corn from the north of China for growing pigs.The experiment examined corn variety（LS1,LS2,LS3 and LS4）grown in one location,drying method（sun dried and artificially dried）and different drying temperatures.Corn harvested at 20-25%moisture was dried to about 12%moisture by sun drying and artificially drying at 80,100,or 120℃ in a fluidized bed dryer.Ninety-six barrows（average BW of 33.4 ± 2.7 kg）were housed in individual metabolism crates to facilitate separate collection of feces and urine.A five-day collection period followed a seven-day diet acclimation period.Results：The results indicated that variety significantly influenced（P〈0.01）the 1,000 kernel weight of corn but not the bulk weight.Variety also influenced the available energy content（digestible energy of dry matter,P〈0.01;metabolisable energy of dry matter,P〈0.01）and digestibility of organic matter（P〈0.01）,as well as dry matter（P〈0.01）and gross energy（GE）content（P〈0.02）.The drying method of corn significantly influenced the 1,000 kernel weight（P〈0.01）,bulk weight（P〈0.01）and digestibility of ether extract（EE）（P〈0.01）.No effect of drying temperature on the digestibility of organic matter,dry matter（DM）,crude protein（CP）,neutral detergent fiber（NDF）,acid detergent fiber（ADF）and gross energy was observed,but gelatinization（P〈0.05）and test weight（P〈0.01）decreased with an increase in temperature.Conclusions：Variety has a significant impact on the nutritive value of corn for growing pigs,and greater attention needs to be paid to these influences in the assignment of the nutritive value of corn given to growing pigs.

Process Parameter Study on Microwave-assisted Foam-mat Drying Properties of Corn Soaking Water

In order to study the microwave-assisted foam-mat drying properties of corn soaking water and optimize process parameters, a quadratic regression orthogonal rotary method was used to analyze the influence of microwave power, material weight, material thickness and drying time on moisture content（dry basis）, color value and protein content. Results showed that the primary and secondary sequence of parameters with regard to moisture content（d. b.） was drying time, microwave power, material weight and material thickness; the primary and secondary sequence of parameters with regard to color value was material weight, drying time, microwave power and material thickness; the primary and secondary sequence of parameters with regard to protein content was drying time, material weight, microwave power and material thickness. Optimum conditions were obtained as microwave power of 560 W, material weight of 46.88 g, material thickness of 6.20 mm and drying time of 8.01 min. The results might provide the theoretical basis and technical support for the microwave-assisted foam-mat drying of corn soaking water to produce yeast protein power.