Assessing the Fodder Potentials of Drought-Tolerant Maize (Zea mays L.) Hybrids in West Africa

Table 3

Means of nutritional characteristics of commercial hybrid (n = 11), drought-tolerant (DT) hybrid (41), and local check of different cultivar maize group.

	DM	Ash	CP	NDF	ADF	ADL	Cell	Hemcel	IVOMD	ME (MJ/kg DM)
Commercial hybrid
Mean	90.9 (<0.00001)	5.7 (<0.00001)	6.1 (<0.00001)	81.1 (<0.00001)	50.1 (<0.00001)	6.2 (<0.00001)	43.9 (<0.00001)	31 (<0.00001)	46.2 (<0.00001)	7.2 (<0.00001)
SEM	0.12	0.19	0.28	0.63	1.07	0.11	1.02	1.07	0.56	0.08
Range	90.2–91.6	4.9–7.1	4.9–7.5	78.5–85.9	43.5–56.8	5.6–6.9	37.6–50.2	23.1–35.3	43.3–48.8	6.8–7.6
DT hybrid
Mean	90.9 (<0.00001)	5.8 (<0.00001)	6.0 (<0.00001)	79.7 (<0.00001)	49.7 (<0.00001)	6.2 (<0.00001)	43.5 (<0.00001)	30 (<0.00001)	46.2 (<0.00001)	7.2 (<0.00001)
SEM	0.17	0.19	0.25	0.87	1.06	0.21	0.95	0.70	0.57	0.09
Range	89.7–91.5	4.4–6.6	4.8–7.3	73.7–84.5	44.2–54.9	5.3–7.5	38.6–47.9	27.3–34.4	43.8–50.0	6.8–7.7
Local check	90.8	5.7	8.2	77.1	39.9	5.2	34.72	37.3	49.2	7.6

CP = crude protein, NDF = neutral detergent fibre, ADF = acid detergent fibre, ME = metabolizable energy, IVOMD = in vitro organic matter digestibility, DM = dry matter, ADL = acid detergent lignin, Cell = cellulose, Hemcel = hemicellulose.