Back A. Guim, A. C. Ruggieri, P. de Andrade and E. B. Malheiros
FCAVJ, UNESP, Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil
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Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of EM on the consumption, nutritive value and digestibility of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum cv. napier) silages processed from wilted and fresh grasses. The first experiment was a feeding trial with sheep involving three treatments: fresh grass silage + 9% ground corn fed alone or inoculated with EM, and wilted grass silage inoculated with EM. Results indicated that there were no significant differences in the apparent digestibility of fresh grass silage whether inoculated with EM or uninoculated. Nevertheless, the fresh grass silage had a higher level of digestibility than the wilted grass silage. Also, the sheep that were fed EM-treated silage consumed greater amounts of silage per unit of body weight compared with untreated (no EM) silage.
The second experiment was conducted to determine the in situ degradability of elephant grass silages using fistulated steers. Periodic changes in the dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) levels served as indices of degradability. The degradation of DM and NDF was considerably lower for the wilted grass silage inoculated with EM compared with the fresh grass silage + ground corn, whether it was inoculated with EM or uninoculated.