Chemical composition and degradation four species of Pennisetum sp

Abstract

The capacity to degradation of pastures cut on the coast, is an alternative to the demand of grasses for feeding ruminants. four species of grass Pennisetum (elephant, purple, king grass, maralfalfa and clone Cuba CT-115) at three cutting ages (30, 45 and 60 days) were selected and the degradative dynamics in 0, 3, 6, 12 ,24, 48 and 72 hours of incubation was evaluated, using three fistulated Brahman bulls 450 kg average. The technique of nylon bags was used and a randomized block design was used with a 4x3 factorial arrangement (forage species x age cutoff). Data were subject to an analysis of variance with Tukey test (p<0.05) and statistical software (SAS, 2003). It was found that increasing age was associated with decreased protein, best proportions was 30 days with 12.89%, followed by 12.19, 11.53 and 9.77% for maralfalfa, CT-115, king grass and elephant, respectively. The highest rate of degradation was p≤0.001 in situ for 30 days maralfalfa cutting, obtaining dry matter (88.85%), organic matter (89.53%) and ash bioavailability (85.24%) after 72 hours incubation. The release of these components was influenced by forage maturity, thus its high degradation ensuring an amount of fermentable energy available to the rumen microbial synthesis process and it is a good alternative of use for livestock.