Silagem de Tifton 85 na alimentação de vacas em lactação

Abstract

The use of conserved forage with quality has great importance in ruminant feeding, providing food availability in times of scarcity and keeping the animal performance. The species of Cynodon as Tifton 85 stand out due to their productivity and nutritional value is a good choice for use as conserved feed, but when they have higher nutritional values, the dry matter levels are low and there are also low soluble carbohydrate contents hindering the fermentation process. We conducted a study to evaluate the silage of Tifton 85 with different additives and its influence on chemical and microbiological composition and aerobic stability. The additives used were inoculant, soybean hulls and corn processing residue with opening at 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 days of ensiling. There was a reduction in DM over the storage time, changes were also observed in the chemical composition, however not adversely affected the silage quality. Presence of Clostridium sp. occurred in all opening times and also enterobacteria which showed generally a lower occurrence with addition of corn processing residue. Aerobic stability was broken at 15 and 30 days of opening but it stabilized in the following openings. The addition of solid residue provided better quality of silage and corn processing residue which provided better fermentation and microbiological characteristics. In another study evaluated the replacement of Tifton 85 hay by silage of Tifton 85 in the feeding of dairy cows. Five Holstein cows were used in a Latin Square Design with different substitution levels (0%; 25%; 50 %, 75% and 100%), and the proportion of forage in the diet was 50%. The treatment with use of hay provided a lower DM intake compared to other replacement levels. The DM digestibility and nutrients reduced with the use of Tifton silage but the milk production and composition were not changed. The urea nitrogen values of milk decreased with the use of silage, but remained within the considered physiological values. The microbial protein synthesis and the body weight of the animals were not affected by treatments. Regarding the economic analysis using the hay provided better results. The silage Tifton proved to be a good option for surplus fodder conservation and can be fed to lactating cows replacing hay and maintaining productive levels