Silagem de palma forrageira: uma alternativa para o Semiárido

Abstract

The spineless cactus has been highlighting against the constant climate change occurred in the current production scenario, and its use in the Brazilian Semiarid aims to minimize seasonality in the production process, providing energy and increasing the availability of water by way of feed for animals. Therefore, the intensification and efficiency in the use of spineless cactus are essential. In this context, silage emerges as an important way of intensive spineless cactus utilization, which would maximize productivity. Thus, two researches were developed aiming to evaluate the fermentative characteristics and aerobic stability of spineless cactus silage with different additives and in four storage times. Both studies were divided in two experiments: the first experiment to evaluate the silages at different storage times, and the second experiment to evaluate the silages during the aerobic stability test. The first research evaluated the spineless cactus silage additived with urea or Lactobacillus buchneri, as well as the association of these additives, in four storage times (7, 15, 60 and 120 days) and during aerobic stability, with evaluations at 0, 48 and 96 hours. A completely randomized design was used in a factorial scheme: first experiment, 4 × 4 (four treatments and four storage times) with three replicates per treatment; second experiment, aerobic stability, we considered a 4 × 3 factorial scheme (four treatments and three times of exposure to air) with three replicates per treatment. Treatments: spineless cactus silage without additive; spineless cactus silage with addition of 2% urea in the dry matter; spineless cactus silage with addition of L. buchneri; and spineless cactus silage with addition of urea (2% in dry matter) and L. buchneri. The exclusive or associated use of urea and L. buchneri promotes improvement in the fermentative characteristics of spineless cactus silage but does not interfere with the aerobic stability of the silages. The second research evaluated the silage of spineless cactus based diets and different ratios of aruana grass in four storage times (7, 15, 60 and 100 days) and during aerobic stability, with evaluations at 0, 24, 48 and 96 hours. Five diets were formulated with spineless cactus as the main food, where the proportions of the ingredients (bran soybean, corn bran, bran wheat and urea) varied according to the inclusion ratios of the aruana grass, which were: 30% (Diet 1), 25% (Diet 2), 20% (Diet 3), 10% (Diet 4) and 0% (Diet 5) based on dry matter. A completely randomized design was used in a factorial scheme: first experiment, 5 × 4 (five diets and four storage times) with three replicates per diet; second experiment, aerobic stability, a 5 × 4 factorial scheme (five diets and four times of exposure to air) with three replicates per diet. The silages of diets based on spineless cactus and aruana grass presented fermentative characteristics considered satisfactory and can be recommended and used in animal feed.