This experiment was carried out to estimate the voluntary intake, apparent digestibility and nitrogen balance of silages of Brachiaria brizantha cv marandu without additives (T1), B. brizantha cv marandu + inoculant Sil-ALL C4 (T2), B. brizantha cv marandu + inoculant Bactosilo C Tropical (T3) and B. brizantha cv marandu + 30% of Sugar cane (T4) in sheep. No differences among silages regarding voluntary intake of: dry matter, crude protein, crude energy, digestible energy and metabolizable energy were found (P>0.05). The highest apparent digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and crude energy were observed for T2, being 60.8%, 44.2% and 57.5%, respectively, and the lowest for T4, with 53.0%, 30.0% and 49.5%, respectively (P<0.05). All treatments showed positive nitrogen balance and did not differ among them. The use of an inoculant or sugar cane did not result in voluntary intake increase of dry matter, fibrous fractions and energy of silages. The inoculant Sil ALL C4 was efficient in increasing the intake and digestibility of CP and nitrogen balance.
sheep; digestibility; voluntary intake; bacterium inoculant; silage
