Back A. Guim, P. de Andrade and E. B. Malheiros
FCAVJ, UNESP, Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil
Full Paper (PDF File: 59KB)
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of EM on the consumption, nutritive value and digestibility of corn forage (Zea mays L. ) processed into corn silage after harvesting at two growth stages. Stage 1 silage contained 25 percent dry matter and stage 2 silage, harvested nine days later, contained 37 percent dry matter. The first experiment involved feeding trials with sheep and showed no difference in consumption and digestibility between the untreated and EM-treated stage 1 silage. However, the stage 2 silage treated with EM resulted in significantly higher levels of digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), nitrogen-free extract (NFE), and total digestible nutrients (TDN) than the untreated silage. There was no difference in consumption due to EM treatment. The second experiment involved fistulated steers to assess the potential ruminal degradation of DM and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in both silages, either untreated or treated with EM. There were no significant differences in potential degradability between the untreated silages; however, the values obtained for the EM-treated stage 2 silage tended to be lower than the EM-treated stage 1 silage.