SILAGEM DE GRÃOS ÚMIDOS DE MILHO EM DIETAS PARA TERMINAÇÃO DE BOVINOS DE CORTE

Abstract

The objective of this study was to review the use of wet corn grain silage in diets for finishing beef cattle. The wet corn grain ensilage can include both high-moisture corn and rehydrated grain. Due to the climatic characteristics of Brazil and the great pressure of pests on corn crops, the cultivation of hybrids with vitreous endosperm is increasingly common. Although this type of corn is relevant in agronomic attributes, prolamin, a protein that surrounds starch granules, means that this nutrient is not available as a whole. Therefore, it is necessary to choose a grain processing method that includes mechanical and chemical breakdown. The ensilage of grains harvested with high moisture or rehydrated meets all the prerequisites for corn starch to be digested more efficiently by the rumen and other compartments. The size of the grain particles is of fundamental importance, with 2 mm particles in corn grain silage with high moisture content showing an increase in total digestive tract digestibility of 95.2%. The storage period also establishes significant improvements in starch degradability, considering that, up to the first 71 days, the gains in degradability are on average 0.27 percentage units. On the other hand, after this period, gains in the order of 0.03 percentage units/day continued to occur. Therefore, corn grain silage, whether harvested with high moisture content or rehydrated, improves the digestibility of starch from grains with vitreous endosperm.