A review: nutrition and process attributes of corn in pet foods

Figures & data

Table 1. Nutritional composition of whole corn used in various pet food studies.

		Nutrient, dry matter basis^a
Authors	Corn type^b	DM, %	Ash, %	CP, %	AHF, %	Starch, %	TDF, %
Murray et al. (1999)	Corn	90.1	0.6	5.6	3.2	88.3	3.0
Bednar et al. (2001)	Corn	86.8	1.4	12.8	4.9	NR^d	19.6
Gajda et al. (2005)	Conventional corn	87.0	1.6	8.5	6.8	78.1	12.0
Gajda et al. (2005)	High-protein corn	87.5	1.3	10.2	5.8	79.1	10.7
Gajda et al. (2005)	High protein, low phytate corn	87.8	1.5	10.1	6.2	79.1	11.2
Gajda et al. (2005)	High-amylose corn	86.9	1.7	11.6	7.2	69.1	18.8
Carciofi et al. (2008)	Corn	88.8	1.9	10.5	5.2	78.4	4.1
Cutrignelli et al. (2009)	Corn	88.4	1.6	8.8	1.2^c	79.4	9.1
Fortes et al. (2010)	High oil maize	88.2	1.3	9.5	8.5	71.7	8.7
Bazolli et al. (2015)	Maize	88.3	1.3	9.1	6.3	71.9	11.2
Averages	–	88.0	1.4	9.8	6.0	77.2	10.8

a DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; AHF, acid-hydrolyzed fat; TDF, total dietary fiber.

b Corn variety as described in each study.

c Not reported in the study.

d Measured by ether extract. This fat value was not included in the average.

Table 2. Dry matter (DM) apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) by adult dogs fed diets containing at least 30% corn.

Authors	Corn ingredient^a; inclusion, %	Dog breed	Diet type	Digestibility method^b	DM ATTD, %
Wolter et al. (1978)	Corn; 50.0	Beagle	Wet food	TFC	91.9
Walker et al. (1994)	Maize; 67.0	Mature mongrel	Extruded kibbles	TFC	87.2
Murray et al. (1999)	Corn flour; 43.6	Hound bloodline	Extruded kibbles	CO	85.4
Gajda et al. (2005)	Conventional corn; 31.9	Hound bloodline	Extruded kibbles	TFC	77.1
Gajda et al. (2005)	High-protein corn; 32.0	Hound bloodline	Extruded kibbles	TFC	75.5
Gajda et al. (2005)	High-protein, low phytate corn; 32.4	Hound bloodline	Extruded kibbles	TFC	77.6
Gajda et al. (2005)	High-amylose corn; 33.2	Hound bloodline	Extruded kibbles	TFC	60.6
Gajda et al. (2005)	Amylomaize, 26.0	Hound bloodline	Extruded kibbles	TFC	66.9
Twomey et al. (2002)	Maize; 53.5	Mixed-breed	Extruded kibbles	Celite	92.0
Carciofi et al. (2008)	Corn; 53.5	Mixed-breed	Extruded kibbles	CO	78.6
Kore et al. (2009)	Maize; 70.5	Spitz	Pressure cooked	TFC	83.8
Fortes et al. (2010)	Maize; 66.7	Mixed-breed	Extruded kibbles	TFC	84.9
Bazolli et al. (2015)	Maize ground at 360 um ; 53.5	Beagle	Extruded kibbles	CO	80.5
Bazolli et al. (2015)	Maize ground at 451 um ; 53.5	Beagle	Extruded kibbles	CO	82.1
Bazolli et al. (2015)	Maize ground at 619 um ; 53.5	Beagle	Extruded kibbles	CO	75.9
Schauf et al. (2018)	Maize; 34.0	Beagle	ND^c	TFC	82.2
Domingues et al. (2019)	Corn; 30	Beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	81.7

a As described by each author.

b TFC, total fecal collection; CO, chromic oxide marker method; Celite, celite marker method.

c ND, not defined.

Table 3. Nutritional composition of corn co-products used in various pet food studies.

		Nutrient, dry matter basis^a
Authors	Corn co-product	DM, %	Ash, %	CP, %	AHF, %	TDF, %	NFE^b, %	GE, kcal/kg
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, hydrolyzed	94.2	0.5	12.0	6.8	79.9	0.8	4900.0
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, hydrolyzed extracted	96.4	0.5	10.8	2.4	88.2	0.0	4700.0
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, native	92.1	1.0	12.0	5.6	71.1	10.3	4800.0
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, native with fines	87.4	0.7	14.1	4.9	63.0	17.3	4800.0
de Godoy et al. (2009)	Corn germ meal	90.1	3.9	28.4	6.0	45.0	16.7	4559.0
Kawauchi et al. (2011)	Corn gluten feed	89.4	6.7	24.9	4.5	42.7	12.5^c	4943.7
de Godoy et al. (2009)	Corn gluten meal	90.5	1.8	73.9	7.8	0.3	16.2	5743.0
Smith (2018)	Corn gluten meal	89.8	1.1	74.7	1.8^d	ND^e	22.4	NR^f
Bednar et al. (2001)	Corn flour	92.1	0.6	11.2	2.6	2.8	84.3^c	NR^f
Bednar et al. (2001)	Corn starch	91.2	0.2	0.6	0.9	0.0	102.5^c	NR^f
de Godoy et al. (2009)	Distillers dried grains with solubles	91.8	4.3	27.6	15.2	30.5	22.4	5175.0
Silva et al. (2016)	Distillers dried grains with solubles	90.8	2.0	30.1	9.0	9.3^g	40.7	4805.6
Smith (2018)	Next-generation distillers dried grains	93.3	4.6	54.4	4.2^d	4.4^g	32.3	NR^f

a DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; AHF, acid-hydrolyzed fat; TDF, total dietary fiber; GE, gross energy.

b Calculated as 100 – (ash + CP + fat + fiber).

c Reported as starch content.

d Reported as crude fat.

e Not detected.

f Not reported in the study.

g Reported as crude fiber.

Table 4. Dry matter (DM) apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) by adult pets fed diets containing a corn co-product.

Authors	Corn ingredient; inclusion, %	Species, breed	Diet type	Digestibility method^a	DM ATTD, %
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, hydrolyzed; 7.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	CO	94.2
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, hydrolyzed extracted; 7.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	CO	96.4
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, native; 7.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	CO	92.1
Guevara et al. (2008)	Corn fiber, native with fines; 7.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	87.4
Kawauchi et al. (2011)	Corn gluten feed; 7.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	79.4
Kawauchi et al. (2011)	Corn gluten feed; 14.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	75.2
Kawauchi et al. (2011)	Corn gluten feed; 21.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	72.8
Funaba et al. (2005)	Corn gluten meal; 34.6	Cat, mixed-breed	Extruded kibbles	TFC	77.7
Smith (2018)	Corn gluten meal; 20.5	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TD	83.4
Silva et al. (2016)	Distillers dried grains with solubles; 6.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	85.2
Silva et al. (2016)	Distillers dried grains with solubles; 6.0 and xylanase	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	84.1
Silva et al. (2016)	Distillers dried grains with solubles; 12.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	82.6
Silva et al. (2016)	Distillers dried grains with solubles; 12.0 and xylanase	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	81.5
Silva et al. (2016)	Distillers dried grains with solubles; 18.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	83.2
Silva et al. (2016)	Distillers dried grains with solubles; 18.0 and xylanase	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TFC	80.6
Smith (2018)	Next-generation distillers dried grains; 25.0	Dog, beagle	Extruded kibbles	TD	78.2

a CO, chromic oxide marker method; TFC, total fecal collection method; TD, titanium dioxide marker method.

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