This work aimed to evaluate the fermentative characteristics silages of two varieties of sugar cane with different additives. The experiment was conducted in the Department of Agricultural Sciences of UNIMONTES, Janaúba Campus - MG. A completely randomized design with a factorial scheme of 2 x 5 + 2 was used, with two varieties of sugar cane (RB 86 7515 and IAC 86 2480) and five additives (urea, NaOH, CaO, corn and Lactobacillus buchneri), with three repetitions and one treatment without additive by variety, where the silos were opened 60 days after the ensiling. The additives NaOH and CaO promoted reductions in the losses by gases and effluents of the silages of sugar cane. The IAC 86 2480 variety showed better recovery rate of dry matter. The additives NaOH and L. buchneri reduced the water activity in the IAC 86 2480 variety. Corn and L. buchneri promoted lower pH values. The addition of urea significantly increased the amounts of ammonia nitrogen. The silages supplemented with NaOH and CaO showed high levels of lactic acid and low concentrations of ethanol. The concentration of acetic acid as a percentage of dry matter was high in all treatments. Propionic acid and butyric acid were within the ideal range for the fermentation process. The use of NaOH and CaO additives resulted in a silage with good fermentative characteristics and the best variety for the ensiling process was IAC 86 2480.
chemical additive; ethanol; fermentation; Lactobacillus buchneri; ivolatile fatty acids