Evaluation of the silage of elephant-grass with addition of wheat meal

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the gas and effluent losses, dry matter recovery, and the quality of elephant grass silage with addition of wheat meal. A entirely randomized experimental design, with three treatments (0, 15 and 30 percent of wheat meal) and four replicates for treatment. The analyzed variables were the percentage of gas and effluent losses, dry matter recovery, pH, amoniacal-N, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber, in the silages. Buckets with capacity of 6.5 liters, with a bunsen valve to allow the escape of the gases in its cover and with 1kg of sand placed in the bottom for reception of the effluent, were used. The test of Tukey demonstrated that there were significant differences for the values of the losses, as well as of the dry matter recovery. The losses by gases were superior in treatment with 30 percent of wheat (1.77 percent) while in the grass silage the losses were of 1.37 percent. On the other hand, the losses by effluent were drastically reduced for the addition of wheat meal, with a reduction of 23.89 to 1.15 kg/silage ton. However, no significant difference was observed for the variable dry matter recovery. The pH values were similar among the treatments, however, the inclusion of wheat promoted a larger liberation of amoniacal-N, and the treatment with 30 percent of wheat presented a liberation of 6.03 percent, while for the grass silage the production of amoniacal-N was of 2.90 percent. With relation to the bromatologic composition, the inclusion of wheat meal reduced the percentage of the fibrous composition, as NDF or ADF, and increasing the protein content of the silage. The addition of wheat meal generates good quality silage, without affecting the fermentation standard and improving the nutritional quality of silages