Der Tropenlan dwlrt, Beltrige zu r tropl,ehen Landwlrtschlft und
l00. Jahrgarog,Oktober99, S. 18 1 · 188.
Vetlrlnirm~lzln,
Total Phosphorus and Phytate Phosphorus Content
in Grain Maize (Zea Mays)
J. Cossa.', H.Jeroch··, Ker.ni n Dlo ffs", H. K1 ugc·', W. Drauschke'·', R. Ackermann
Abstract
The aim oflhis work was to an.. lyse thc tota l an d phytatc phosphorus con tents of grain
maize varie ties from three Central German locations, s ince these are important factors
for Ihc availability of P. For all 100 tesled maize samples the lotal phosphorus co nten t o f
3.41 g/kg DM and a phy tatc phosphorus con ten t of 2.63 g/kg DM and the ratio ph yla te!
total phosphorus of 77 % were determined. Also, il was to be established whether th e
total and phytate p hosphorus contents are influenced by variety, location, climate or
maturity group. While a statisticall y significant inn uence o f varieties on the total and
phy tat e phosphorus con tents could nOt be proved, it was possible to de tect statistically
signi fica nl differences between th e lotal and ph ytat e phosphorus con tents among th e
va ri eties of th e ea rl y and medium.ea rly maturity groups. One could notice a slatist ical ly
significa nt influence of the location o n total phosp horus and ph ytate phosp horus con·
tenlS. The crop years had also got a sig ni fica nt influe nce.
Introductio n
Maize beloogs to the most important t"Creal varieties for human an d an imal nutrition. In
Germany, for example, 80 % of the maize production is used as feedstuffs (STAn snsOtES
J A1!IU!UC'H, 1997). In African and American countries maize plays an esse ntial role as
food fo r humans. One im portant com ponent of maize for an imals and humans is phos.
phorus and energy. However. about 70 % of th e total phospho rus in maize is bound as
phytate phosphorus. Therefo re it is not available for humans and monogastric animals
that hardly contain any endogenous phytase and cannot hydro lyse phyta te phosp hor us
in th e intestinal tract to reac h the suffic ient phosphorus su pply an d thus their optimal
level of perfonna nce. Phytic acid, which is myoinosi tol I ,2,3,4,5,6-hexakis (dihydrogen
phosphale), does nul on ly interfere with the intestinal absurption of certain min erals,
e.g. phosphorus or zi nc, bUI also o f protein, and thus ca uses nut ritional deficiencies
I)r.J.Cossa.l'ocs.:happlcli'lr. 20<:, 0 11 89 Drcsden. Gcrm~ny•
.• I..~lilu lc lIf Animat Nutrition and ptanned CfOp Storagc , Agricullural Facully of M ~ l1in· Lulher.
Uni'·crs ily. H ~ lI e· Willcnbcrg. Emil·Abderhalden· Slr.26, 06108 Hallcl Saale, Germany .
... Or. habil W I)rauschke, Rosc&&"r.m.2,04289 Lcipzig, Gennan y.
181
The bound phosphorus is the reason why inorganic phosphorus must be added. It is
important to know the contents of total and phytate phosphorus in different varieties of
maize to op timize the addition of inorganic phosphorus or microbial phytase, especiaJly
since there have not been any systematic inves tigations so far. The analyses carried out
by Jongbloed and Kemm e ( 1990), wnlzsch (1990), Eeckhout and De Paepe (1994)
referred only to small numbers of s<lmples from abroad without describing Ihe lested
varieties or locations. MOST et al. ( 1993) assumed e.g. that the reason for varying values
could be found in uifferent methods of selection and analyses. However, there have no t
been maue many systematic ex periments concerning variabilities of phosphorus conlenlscaused by variety, season, yearorenvironmenl.
The aim of this study was to find possible climatic, genetic and local innuences as well
as effects of maturity group on tota l and phytate phospho rus in ma ize which could cxplain the va riability of these values. Grain maize is to be used fo r the produclion of dry
grain in Central Germany. For this reason appropriate investigations into th e phosphorus co ntents (to tal and phytate-P) of varietally pure sample muteriul fro m three locationsand two crop years were carried oul.
Material and Methods
One hundred grain maize samples from 28 varieticsgrown in central Germany (Saxony)
have been chosen to determine their total anu phytate phosphorus contents as we ll as
possible influences by var iety, maturity group, klcat ion and crop year. The selection
wns taken according to the different parameters (see Tables 1 (03) like different geographic,climaliccondi tions and loca tions. Six grain maizevaricties (24 samples) ineluded in this study from two locations we re additionally tested in two crop ycnrs concerningthcirphytascactivities.
The phosphorus content in soil on three locations (Pommritz, Spr6da and G1csien) was
analysed and the differences in phosphorus content were balanced with P-fertilization
to r~ach the, same level of soil nutrient provision in the soil. Unfortunately, the bad
weather conditions at the location SprOda di d not allow thc inclusion of sample material
from thcre in 1996,
12 early and 15 medium-early varieties from the locations Pommritz and Sproda were
chosen for the analysis of the influence of maturity group on to tal and phytate phosphoruscontents inl995.
2.1
Analytical methods
The content of total phosphorus was ana lysed according to the
[J,~thods
of VDLUFA
(1976/1993) . It was measured spectrophotomctrically at a wave length of 420 nm (Spec-
trophotometcr Pharmacias "LKB-UltTOspec 111") after mineralizing the samples by break182
ing down and converting it wit h Mo lybdat-Vanada t. The phylale phosphorus conlcnl
was determined according 10 the AOAC-me thod (1990) by th e exchange of anions. The
phyla le phosphorus was eXlracted oul of doubled dri ed samplings with di luted 2.5%
hydrochloric acid, mixed wi lh EDTNNaOJ-J solution and put into an anion -exchange·
column.
Phytale was eluted with 0.7 mol NaG and broken down by a mixtu re of concentrated
! INO/ HlSO. to determine the tO tal-P calorimetrically. The phylase activity was measured follow ing the melhod described by VDLUFA (1997). The enzyme phytase was
mixed with Na-phytate and deve loped inorg3T1ic phytatc from their substratum. The
addition of acidic Molybdat-Vanadat reage nl stop ped the incu bl!lio n and H coloured
complex developed wi th the phosphate.
2.2
Statistical analysis
The evaluations of the resu lts as aTlal yscs of the va riance were made with the he lp of the
programme Stalistica fo r Windows ""(Version 5.0, Stat, Soft. INC. 1995). For the multiple analysis of lhe variance the Tukey-HSD-Test has bee n used, while simple comparisons of mean val ues were made by the I-Test. Significan t effects or interact ions are
shown in the tables by th e p-va lue (level of Signi fica nce: · =p <O.05 ; ·":p<O.OI;
···p<O.OO I; TIS = not significa nt). Different lellers within one column indicate signifi ca nt differences of the mean values. T he standard deviation (:!:) isalsa give n in the
tab les. The relation between two parameters is calculated by correl ation (correl ation
coefficient '" r).
Thble I: Charactcristics of the teSled locations
Location
"ommrilz
Sprooa
Glesien
Soil
Valuation
inde.lor
loam·sandy
loam
Loamy
~"d
loa m-sa ndy
loam
Height
P1O, eontenl
(mg/100g MlII)
Soil
nutrient
pn·
vlllue
field
above sea·
levei(m}
61
230
26
J(J
120
11
S.,
62
127
24
6 .1
rovision
6.7
Table 2: Climatic oonditions in th e crop years (1995 and 1996)'
Locallnn
Avera eDreciltatlon ( mm)
Jong- Iermaverage!
1995
1996
)'Ommrilz
349
m
SprOOa
286
m
G lesien
283
347
'~hy - Seplember
Jong-Icrmavc rage l
1995
461
15.8
16.4
15.5
16.4
t4.7
240
1 5.~
16.4
14.8
1996
lOver IO years
183
TlIble3:Analyscdgra inmaiusampl ematerial '
Lo\:a li ons in Saxony
I'omm ritz
Glcsien
Ma turit y group
Early
Medium -early
EJrly
SpJiida
Med ium -early
Early
Medium -early
230-250
220
230-250
220
230-250
Cr:!JI:yell r 1995
220
13
I'
12
C rop yea r 1"6
I'
'number ofthc testedvarleues
Results and Discussion
Among Ihe tested maize varieties from three locat ions no statistical influence ofvari etics could be established. The mean lotal phosphorus content of the 100 tested samples
was 3.4 1 :!: 0.51 glkg OM, the phytate phosphorus CQntent 2.63 :t 0.38 glkg DM and the
rdtio phytate/lotal-P 77 :t 10.0 % and the phylasc at.1ivity o f the selected sam ples was <
50 Unil! kg. These results are lillie higher th an Ihe va lues given in OLG feed tables
(1973; tmal-P 3.2 glkg OM), which include resulls by many autho rs. The determined
values ag ree with the results by Oeosthale (1979) who determined total-P with 3.30 gI
kg OM , phytate-P with 2.61 glkg OM and the rati o phytateJ total-P: 79 % using the same
me thod as in the present study. Other authors described lower contents, e.g. Pointillart
(1994; ph ytate-P: 1.7 - 2.2. glkg OM): National Research Council of the USA (1994;
lotal-P: 2.8 glkg OM; phytate- P: 2.0 glkg OM); Pie rce el aI. (1977; total- P: 2.7 glkg
OM; ph ytale-P: 2.3 glkg OM). However, their pcrcenlagcs o f phytate in lotal phosphorus agree with the val ues of Ihis study. Underwood ( 1977) explained these va ri abilities
by different soil types,genelic l.Iifferences of the samples and the influences of season
and matu rity group. This last mentioned aspect cou ld be proved by thi s ana lysis. Other
reasons for deviations can he suspected in diffe rent melhol.ls of analyses as Most et al.
(1993) assum ed. In Tab le 4 below the mean va lues o f lotal and phytate phosphorus arc
represente d at'Cording to the maturity groups o f Ihe 27 tesled vari eties on IWO loealions
in 1995. As one can ootice there is a significantly statistical infl uent.-c of matu rity groups
on lotal and phytate phosphorus.
In th e foll owing table 5 th e influence of the locat ion is shown. It has effects on the total
phosphorus and phylate phosp horus conlents when th e mean values from the three tested
locations were compared.
l3csides an infl uence of Ihe crop year on lolal phosphorus, phytate phosphorus and on
its portion in tOlal phosphorus could be statislically delermined. There was a big diffe rence helwecn the mean values ascertained fo r 1995 an d 19% (sec Tab le 6). The reason
was prob ab ly Ihatthere were big diffe rences t:o ncern ing the amount of precipitation and
th e lime of dry and wct periods.
184
Tabll' 4: Ml'a n tOla l phosphorus and phy llue phosphorus conlents o( the ma tu rity groups of
grain mJize SJ mp lcs (n .. 54) from the locations POmmrilZ and SprOda in 1995
Mat urity group
(%)
(gIkgDM)
Ell rly(n: 24)
3,00"=0.23
2.53' ,*0.31
84=7.4
M~dium·~arly (n: 30)
3.33 b =0.22
2.76 b =0.33
(o.f l'lInva lu e
3.17 :to.28
2.65:t0.34
83=9.6
84:t8.6
O.6j'IJ
p-l"DIIU
Tahle 5: [nnuen ceso fl oc31ionson thelO1JI an d phytatc phosphorus contenlS of grain maize
Tllb ll' 6: Mean IOlal phosphorus and phyt8le phosphorus am lcntso f the crop ye ar 1995 and
1996
Crop year
Total hosphorus
Phytllte hosphoros
(glkgDM)
1995(n:70)
1996 (n =30)
p_I'alllt
2.81'
3.94b
:to.S7
",0.42
Phytatepbosphorus
(% in to\al phospho rus)
2.39"
,*0.33
83'
2. 78~
:1:0.35
70"
.
.10
8
The relation betwee n total phosphorus and phytate phosphorus of all samples in bot h
crop yea rs (n = I 00) was II positive, significa nt co rrelation (Fig. I) . The function of correlation means th .. t the phytate phosphorus increases by 0.43 g/kg DM when the tot .. ]
phosphorus content rises by I gfkg DM.
Horvatie and Balint (1996) determined in their tests with three grain maize variet ies
from two crop yea r.; hi gher correlations (r " 0.94 fo r 1985; r = 0.80 for 1986). There are
no specific data fo r grain maize so that furt her possibilities of comparing are nOl availab le.
185
oL. ~.:-.- - -- -,;---- - - - .,-;---------;.
Figu!'\' I: Co rre lation between
tol~I · P
and phytatc-P (g/kg DM) in grain ma ize
From th e 15 maize varieties that were tes ted both in 1995 and 1996 six va ri eties were
chosen 10 de termine their phytase activities. All of Ihem obtai ned phylasc aclivitic.'I
below 50 U/kg which is cha racteristic of maize and di d not show any var iability. So th e
anal yses by Pointillart ( 1993 and 1994) as well as by Ecckhout and Dc Pacpe (1997)
could be proved by this study.
C esamt- und
Phy lal phosp h o~ha lt
in Kom ermais (ZtO Moys)
Zusammenfassung
In diese Un lersuchung wurden 28 K6rn ermaissorte n des Standortes Pommritz und 27
Kornermaissorlen des Standorles SprOda des Ernlejahrcs 1995 einbewgen, von denen
12 der fril hen und 15 der mittelrrlihen Reifegruppc n zuge horten, wobei es das Ziel der
vorliegenden Arbeit war, diesc Sorten auf ihre Gesamt- und Ph ytatphosphorgehahe zu
priifen. 15 Kiirnermaisso rtcn des Standortes Pommritz wurdcn ausgew5.hlt, urn sic in
den Erntejahren 1995 und 1996 au ch auf d~m Standort Glesien zu lesten . Es sollie
analysieTt werden, ob allft rete nde VariabiliHiten derGesaml- li nd Phylatphosphorgehalle
bzw.derPhytaseakt ivit iitsorten -.stand ort-od erwiueT un gsbcdingtsind.
Foigende Ergebnisse der vorliegende n A nalyse lassen sich zusamme nfassen:
I. Flir die Korn ermaissorlen konntc fiber zwei Etntejahre kein statistisch signlfi ka nte r
Sorteneinn uB auf den Gesamt- und Phytatphosphorgc halL nachgewh;sen werden.
2. Eln stalislisch signi fikanle r Sta ndo rl cinfluBzweier Stan dorte wurde Hirden Gcsamtund Phytatp hosph orgehalt liber zwei Erntcjahre restge~tc l lt.
186
3. Fu r dic Emlcjahrc wurdc rur drci Standorlc ein SlaliSiisc h signiflkanter Standorlcinnu6
aufGesaml- und Phytatphosphorgehall sowie auf den prozenlualen Anlell Phylalphosphor
am Gesamlp hasphorverze ichncl.
4. Fur d<lS Ernlejah r 1995 wurden Slalislisch signifikanlc Unterschiede bezilglich des
Gcsamlphosphorge halles und des Phytalphosphorgehalies zwischen den Sorten det rruhen
und mittelfruhen Rei feg ruppe auf den Standorten Pommrilz und Spr6da gesichert.
Ac kn owledgements
This wor k was financially supported by lite ' Minisleri um fu r Bildung und Wissenschaft'
o f lhe German Federal Stale Sachsen-Anhall. The authors wantta thank the employeC5
o f the expe rimental stations Nosse n and Glesien pa rtic ul arly M . Delling fo r providi ng
the samples and giving advice.
187
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