Animals (Jan 2023)

Is the Integration between Corn and Grass under Different Sowing Modalities a Viable Alternative for Silage?

  • Dayenne Mariane Herrera,
  • Wender Mateus Peixoto,
  • Joadil Gonçalves de Abreu,
  • Rafael Henrique Pereira dos Reis,
  • Fabiano Gama de Sousa,
  • Ernando Balbinot,
  • Vanderley Antônio Chorobura Klein,
  • Ricardo Pereira Costa

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13030425
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 3
p. 425

Abstract

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This study aimed to evaluate the fermentation pattern and dry-matter losses in corn (Zea mays L.) silage intercropped with Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu and Megathyrsus maximus cv. Mombasa grasses in different sowing modalities through crop–livestock integration. The experimental design was in randomized blocks, which were arranged in a 2 × 5 factorial scheme with four repetitions. The first factor consisted of the grass cultivars Marandu and Mombasa. The second factor was the sowing modalities of grasses intercropped with corn: (1) simultaneous row sowing and inter-row corn sowing (no fertilizer); (2) simultaneous row sowing and inter-row corn sowing (with fertilizer); (3) simultaneous sowing with double grass row in the corn inter-row; (4) delayed sowing inter-row at 7 days after corn emergence; and (5) delayed sowing inter-row at 14 days after corn emergence. The forage buffer capacity (BC), silage pH and ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) content, forage (FORDM) and silage dry-matter (SILDM) percentages, gas losses (GL), effluent losses (EL), and dry-matter recovery (DMR) parameters on the ensilage were evaluated. Only forage BC, silage NH3-N, and silage DMR variables differed (p 3-N variables had an effect. The intercropping of corn and Marandu grass or Mombasa grass, in any grass sowing modality, did not affect the quality of the silage.

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