The quality of the silages of sorghum BRS-610 produced at seven stages of grain maturation was evaluated by the semi-automatic gas production technique. It was used a complete randomized design, with four repetitions per treatment, and the means were compared by the Scott-knott test (P<0.05). The potential of production of gases, lag phase, rates of gas production, and effective dry matter degradability for 2, 5, and 8%/h rates of passage were obtained by the model of France et al. The potential of gas production did not differ among the silages, showing mean of 170.5mL/dry matter. The stages between milky/soft dough to soft dough showed shorter lag phase. The highest rate of gas production was observed in the silages produced between soft dough/floury to dry stages. The effective degradabilities were similar among the silages, averaging 46.2%. The sorghum BRS-610 produced satisfactory quality silage, mainly for the silage produced with the plant at soft dough/floury stage, for associating better rate of gas production and shorter lag phase.
sorghum; silage; gas production; nutritional value
