The aim of this work was to determine the harvest moment of Brachiaria brizantha for silage production. The silages were opened at 56 days of fermentation. The treatments used were four growth ages (28, 56, 84, and 112 days). The experimental procedure followed a completely randomized design with four replications for each treatment. The dry matter (DM) production increased with the advance of the plant maturity, varying from 3.04 to 11.47 t/ha. The lower dry matter value among the ensilages was observed for the 28-day treatment (17.16%), which was similar to the 84-day treatment (p>0.05), while the highest value of 22.62% was observed for the age of 112 days of growth. The values of in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) in the silages varied from 67.40% to 57.40% with the advance of the maturity and were similar only (p<0.05) between the ages of 84 and 112 days. The values of ammoniacal nitrogen for total nitrogen (N-NH3/NT) were higher at the age of 28 days than the other ages (p<0.05). The pH of the analyzed silages varied from 4.87 to 5.45 among the evaluated ages. The Brachiaria brizantha presents potential for silage production with high productions of dry matter. However, at younger ages, the low percentage of dry matter of the plant impairs the fermentation process. The harvest at 68 days of growth presents the better option for this plant, since it conciliates high production of DM with good nutritional value and desirable characteristic for a good silage confection.
Ammoniacal nitrogen; nutritional value; pH; production
