Effect of corn grain popping temperature on lamb productive performance

Heat treatment of corn grain alters starch structure and thus improves its availability to both ruminal microbial and pancreatic enzymes. The enhancement of starch utilization depends upon ruminant species, grain source and method of processing (Theurer, 1986). The influence of various processing methods on ruminal degradability of some cereals have been studied (Bittante et al., 1989; Piva et al., 1987)...