Effect of wheat meal on losses, dry matter recovery and chemical composition of mombaça-grass silage

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the effect of inclusion of wheat meal on losses, dry matter recovery and quality of mombaça-grass silage, using a completely randomized experimental design with four treatments: 0, 20, 40 and 60% of wheat meal, and three replicates per treatment. Fifteen-liter capacity buckets with bunsen value on the lid were used. Three kilos of sand were placed on the botton of each bucket to capture effluent. Evaluated variable were: losses by gases and effluents, dry matter recovery, pH, amoniacal-N, dry matter content (DM), crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and hemicellulose. Wheat meal addition reduced losses by gases, which ranged from 2 to 1.57%, and eliminated losses by effluents. Wheat meal addition reduced losses by gases and effluents. The recovery dry matter was smaller for the treatment without wheat meal. Values for increased with wheat meal addition. Values of NDF and ADF in the silage reduced linearly in function of wheat meal application. The inclusion of 20% of wheat meal is enough to reach improvements in the quality of grass-mombaça silage and, being economical , it can be recommended.