Short communication: In vitro ruminal fermentability of a modified corn cultivar expressing a thermotolerant α-amylase

The fermentability of a corn cultivar that expresses a thermostable α-amylase (CA3272) was evaluated under various in vitro conditions. The CA3272 corn was developed as a replacement to microbial enzyme additions during the high-temperature processing of corn to produce ethanol. The α-amylase activity in the corn might have the potential for positive effects on ruminant performance if incorporated into the ration. Four corn cultivars were evaluated in an in vitro ruminal fermentation where the digestion of starch was measured after 6 h. The cultivars included a flint corn, an opaque corn, CA3272, and its near-isogenic counterpart (IC). The flint corn produced less total volatile fatty acids (18.4 mM) than the other 3 corns (average of 25.3 mM), supporting the fact that it had the highest concentration of prolamins, which are negatively associated with starch availability. A second 6-h in vitro ruminal fermentation evaluated mixtures of the CA3272 and IC corns (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% concentrations of CA3272). Total volatile fatty acid production was not different among treatments for any proportions of CA3272. In a third in vitro experiment, there was a small but significant difference in starch degradation of CA3272 compared with IC (90.6 vs. 89.7%) but this difference is most likely not biologically relevant. In a fourth in vitro experiment, CA3272 and IC were incubated in water at 40 and 65°C for 24 h. Degradation of starch from native amylase activity at 40°C was 1.99 and 1.60% for CA3272 and IC, respectively, but when they were incubated at 65°C, starch degradation was 10.56 and 0.85% for CA3272 and IC, respectively. These data demonstrate that amylase activity in CA3272 is expressed at a high temperature (65°C) but at the physiological temperature expected in a rumen of a cow (39-40°C), expression of amylase activity does not appear to be sufficient to have any positive (or negative) effects on ruminal metabolism.