Quantitative Determination of Phenolic Acids and Flavonoids in Fresh Whole Crop Rice, Silage, and Hay at Different Harvest Periods

Whole crop rice (WCR) is used as an important feed for livestock ruminants. In this study, “Yeongwoo” variety WCR (cultivated on the Korean peninsula) was harvested at three different maturity stages (booting, heading, and milk) and their phenolic acid and flavonoid profiles in the lactic acid bacteria (LAB)-inoculated and noninoculated silage, hay, and fresh freeze-dried WCR extract were quantified. The alterations in the phenolic and flavonoid contents of the selected WCR during maturation in different samples were analyzed by the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography- Diode Array Detector (HPLC–DAD) technique. The six phenolics (caffeic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, dihydroxy benzoic acid, and prophyl gallate) and six flavonoids (rutin hydroxide, luteolin, kaempferol, vitexin, myricetin, and quercetin) were noted to have slight differences between the LAB-inoculated and noninoculated silage samples; however, the phenolics and flavonoids were higher in hay WCR at the milk stage compared to the silage and fresh freeze-dried samples. The results indicate that WCR harvest times have different phenolic compounds in the WCR silage, hay, and fresh samples. The phenolic and flavonoid compounds were higher (p < 0.05) with the increase in maturity (Stage 1–3). The stage of WCR maturity was positively related (p < 0.05) to the amount of phenolic acid and flavonoid contents (µg/g) in hay, silage, and fresh freeze-dried extract. We observed the WCR had high amounts of phenolic acid and flavonoid concentrations at milk stage (Stage 3) hay (quercetin, kaemferol, luteolin, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, and coumaric acid were 1.28, 1.29, 0.54, 1.54, 1.92, and 1.81 µg/g, respectively) compared with the booting and heading stages (Stages 1 and 2), with acceptable accuracy on a pilot scale. Based on these results, it could be concluded that LAB (Lactobacillus plantarum)-inoculated whole crop rice silage (WCRS) did not affect the phenolics and flavonoids of secondary plant metabolites in fermented silage. However, phenolics and flavonoids were of higher rations in WCR at the milk stage. Furthermore, this phenolic acid and flavonoid effect needs to be confirmed using large-scale in vivo analysis.