PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MAIZE COBS

ABSTRACT

This research was conducted to determine the physical and chemical properties of maize cobs in Edo and Delta states. The cobs used for this study were gotten from Agbor market in Delta State and Third Market in Edo State. The samples were later crushed in a mill and ensiled with different enzymes afterwards, they were fortified with palm oil. The samples were then taken to the Laboratory for proximate and mineral analysis after which the data gotten was subjected to analysis of variance and the means separated with Duncan’s multiple range test. Regarding the physical characteristics, the samples from Edo state differs from that of Delta by colour and texture. Maize cobs from Edo were observed to be more fibrous than cobs from Delta state. Furthermore, cobs from Edo were lighter in colour than cobs from Delta state. Outside conducting the proximate analysis to determine the content of nutrients in the cobs, the minerals that were determined include Calcium, Potassium, Sodium, Potassium and Zinc. The result showed that these five minerals are present in both maize cobs (Delta and Edo) and even in the cobs that were ensiled and fortified with palm oil. There is a significant difference (P＜0.05) between the crude fibre of the Edo (60.3%) and the Delta (36.33%) samples that were neither ensiled nor fortified with palm oil. The result from this study shows that location, the actions of enzymes can determine the nutrient composition of a feed material.