Fermentation profile and nutritional value of sunflower silage with Urochloa brizantha cultivars in the off-season

• Autor(a) principal: Cruvinel,Welma Santos
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: COSTA,Kátia Aparecida de Pinho, TEIXEIRA,Daniel Augusto Alves, DA SILVA,Jessika Torres, EPIFANIO,Patrícia Soares, COSTA,Pedro Henrique Campos Pinho, FERNANDES,Patrick Bezerra
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Saúde e Produção Animal
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-99402017000200249
• topic: chemical composition; in vitro dry matter digestibility; ensilage; Helianthus annuus L.

SUMMARY Sunflower as silage is an alternative to be used in the off-season, when water shortage makes traditional crops unfeasible. However, exclusive sunflower silages have levels above 70 g/kg DM ether extract, which may impair ruminal fermentation. Thus, ensiling sunflower with tropical forages can bring benefits to the quality of the silage. This study evaluated the fermentation profile and nutritional value of sunflower silage with cultivars of Urochloa brizantha in the off-season. This was a completely randomized experimental design with four replications. The treatments were composed of the sunflower silage with and without addition of cultivars of Urochloa brizantha in the ensiling process: sunflower silage; sunflower silage + 30% Marandu palisadegrass; sunflower silage + 30% Xaraes palisadegrass; sunflower silage + 30% Piata palisadegrass and sunflower silage + 30% Paiaguas palisadegrass, totaling 20 experimental silos. The addition of the cultivars of Urochloa brizantha to sunflower silage contributed to improve the fermentation profile and nutritional value of the silages. Silages with 30% Piata and Paiaguas palisadegrass showed higher levels of CP and lower levels of ADF and lignin, and these cultivars are the most recommended for ensiling with sunflower.