Sorghum silage supplementation with Gliricidia sepium in post-weaning cattle

Abstract

An experiment was carried out in order to evaluate the effect of the supplementation of sorghum silage with Gliricidia sepium foliage on the consumption and weight gain (GDP) of bovines and to compare them with the values ​​obtained with a concentrate. A completely randomized experimental design was used with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, where the treatments were: (0) silage alone or supplement with (C) 1 kg / day of concentrate, (G) fresh gliricidia ad libitum up to a maximum of 7 kg / d and (CG) the two supplements together. The silage had 8.2% CP and 53.5% disappearance of MS in sacco, and 20 g of urea and 30 grams of a mineral mixture were added per animal in the feeders. Twenty 105 kg weaned Brahman × Holsteins, housed in individual stalls, were used. In treatments 0, C, G, and CG, the daily silage consumptions were 1.78, 1.61, 1.77 and 1.45 kg DM / 100 kg of weight, with a negative effect of the concentrate (P <0.005), and the GDP was 0.16 , 0.37, 0.31 and 0.57 kg / d with significant increases both in the concentrate (P <0.01) and with the gliricidia (P <0.05). the consumption of DM of gliricidia was 0.66 kg / d, a value slightly lower than that set for the concentrate (0.88 kg DM), being the responses in GDP per 100 g of supplement of 22.7 and 23.9 g in treatments G and C. Results indicate that similar DWG can be obtained when using concentrate or gliricidia at low supplementation levels in weaned cattle receiving a sorghum silage-based diet.