<b>Elephant grass silage with added alternative products</b> - doi: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v33i4.12629

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the fermentation pattern and chemical composition of elephant grass silage using different additives. The experimental design was completely randomized with six treatments (elephant grass no additive; with 100 kg of rice bran ton^-1 of green mass (GM); with 100 kg of soybean hulls ton-1 GM; with 100 kg of corn meal ton^-1 GM; with 200 kg of sugar cane ton-1 GM; with inoculants) and four replications. PVC silos were used, adopting a density of 600 kg of green mass m^-3. With the exception of inoculant, all additives used resulted in increased dry matter content (27.95 to 31.65%) and soluble carbohydrate contents (15.20 to 17.14%) in the forage being ensiled. The additives promoted an adequate fermentation pattern for pH values (3.70 to 3.96) and ammonia nitrogen (3.67 to 4.44% of total N) observed in the silage. The rice bran additive yielded silage with higher contents of crude protein (6.41%) and total digestible nutrients (61.91%) compared to the treatment without any additive.