Efeito da inclusão de farelo de palma sobre as perdas e perfil fermentativo de silagem de capim-elefante(pennisetum purpureum schum)

Abstract

The main difficulty in obtaining elephant grass silage with adequate quality is the high humidity, when the plant has adequate development, increasing losses during the fermentation process, inhibiting adequate fermentation, as well as producing a high amount of effluents that carry the nutrients in water, reducing its nutritional value. The present study aimed to evaluate the losses, fermentative profile and aerobic stability of elephant grass silage added with levels of palm meal. This work was carried out on the premises of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Piauí – IFPI, Campus Paulistana. The adopted experimental design was completely randomized with four treatments and four proportions of palm meal (FP) included in the ensilage of elephant grass cv. Purple (Pennisetum purpureum, Schum) based on natural matter, with treatments consisting of: elephant grass including 0, 10, 20 and 30% FP, with five replications. Dry matter (DM) analyzes of silages, elephant grass and FP were carried out in the laboratory. The fermentative profile was also evaluated, by measuring pH, gas losses (PG) and effluents (PE), in addition to the DM recovery index (RMS). the experiments were carried out the analyzes of variance, through the “F” test, at the level of 5% of regression probability. The choice of models was based on the significance of the linear or quadratic coefficients and on the coefficient of determination, using the Tukey test at 5% probability. There was a linear increase in DM, in 6.91 g DM kg-1 and in ME, in 4.31 kg DM m-3, for each percentage point of palm meal added to elephant grass silage. The inclusion of palm meal significantly reduced losses by effluents (EP), with 3.82 kg Ton-1, 2.77 kg Ton-1 and 1.90 kg Ton-1 at levels of 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively. A quadratic response was observed for the variables RMS, maximum of 92.98% with the inclusion of 23.97%, PG, with a minimum estimate of losses of 1.44% with 22.58% of inclusion, and pH, minimum estimate of 3.81, with the inclusion of 20.34% of palm meal. Palm bran proved to be efficient as a moisture absorbing additive when ensiled with elephant grass. The inclusion of 20% to 30% of palm bran, based on natural matter, during elephant grass ensilage, minimizes losses from the fermentation process