ABSTRACT
We evaluated the qualitative, fermentative, and chemical characteristics of elephant grass silage containing different levels of inclusion of coproduct of the pineapple pulp extraction, pineapple peel - (0.0%, 12.5%, 25.0%, 37.5%, and 50.0%) in relation to natural field of elephant grass during ensiling. The material was ensiled in laboratory silos and after 180 days, the silos were opened and samples were collected for determination of dry matter, soluble carbohydrates, pH, ammonia nitrogen in percentage of total nitrogen, ether extract, crude protein, neutral detergent insoluble protein as a percentage of total nitrogen, acid detergent insoluble protein as a percentage of total nitrogen, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, cellulose, lignin, neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen, acid detergent insoluble nitrogen, and in vitro digestibility of dry matter. To assess the effect of the treatments, we used a completely randomized design with four replications, running the regression analysis for each variable analyzed (P<0.05). According to the regression equations for the fermentative characteristics, the silages can be considered of very good quality. As for fiber digestibility of silage, the increasing levels of this coproduct contributed to its decrease, which can be confirmed by the results found for in vitro digestibility of dry matter. The inclusion of the pineapple peel during the elephant grass silage fermentation promotes and improves the nutritive value of silages being recommended at all levels of inclusion evaluated.
Key words:
coproducts; fermentation characteristics; silage; silage quality