Caracterização, qualidade da silagem e perdas no processo de ensilagem em propriedades leiteiras de Uberlândia

Abstract

The process of silage production involves several variables, being subject to several failures that can compromise the quality of the final product, reducing the acceptability and the digestibility of the silage. This work aimed to evaluate the quality of silages and their respective original materials from small rural properties of the municipality of Uberlândia, identifying faults that may have occurred during this process, as well as to characterize this producer. For this purpose, samples of 56 dairy farms were collected from January to September 2018, in the city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, from the original material and from the silage, to evaluate the percentage of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and average particle size (APS). The highest percentage of the producers had between 20 and 40 animals that were fed with silage, the area destined to the production of silage was on average 5.97 ha and had clay or sandy soils. Forty-one-point-three percent of the producers answered that they planned how much silage they would need and 58.70% answered that they did not. Maize was the most used forage in the harvest season (87.72%) followed by sorghum (7.02%) and tropical grass (1.75%). Only 11.4% of the farms planted some forage for the production of silage in the second cropping season, of which 80% used sorghum and 20% used corn. The most commonly used corn hybrid was BM3063. A total of 44.44% of the farmers who planted maize, and 40% of those who planted sorghum, harvest with ideal DM content. Maize silages had a mean of 4.23 ± 1.32% of MM, 7.14 ± 0.79% of CP, 70.17 ± 4.11% of NDF, 34.03 ± 4.19% of DM and 15.18 ± 4.92% CNF. The sorghum silages had, on average, 4.86 ± 0.92% of MM, 6.16 ± 0.75% of PB, 65.38 ± 2.05% of NDF, 43.02 ± 2.77% of ADF and 20.10 ± 2.31% NFC. When comparing the original material with the silage, there was an average increase of 2.8% in NDF contents, 14.44% in ADF and 4.4% in MM. PB values decreased by an average of 1%. The dairy farms advised by the Municipality of Uberlândia produce on average low-quality silages, showing that there are faults in at least one stage involving their production and supply to the animals.