The brachytic2 mutation alone or its combination with the brown midrib3 mutation improves fiber digestibility in forage maize

Abstract

AbstractShort stature maize (SSM), which carries the brachytic2 (br2) mutation, has reduced plant height and increased plant standability. Since a large area of maize (Zea mays L.) is planted for silage, it is important to investigate the forage nutritive value of SSM. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of the br2 mutation alone or its combination with the brown midrib3 (bm3) mutation on feeding value parameters, notably fiber digestibility and lignification. SSM hybrids had forage feeding value equivalent to BMR hybrids and better than that of tall hybrids. The br2 mutation significantly increased fiber digestibility in the sets of near‐isogenic inbreds by 4 percentage units and hybrids by 2.7 percentage units. Those favorable effects could be attributed to reduction in lignin concentration and changes in the distribution of lignin within the stem. Furthermore, the combination of br2 with bm3 resulted in an increase in fiber digestibility, which appeared to be additive. Altogether, our results indicated that SSM has the potential to create fodder of high feeding value and favorable standability.