The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the fermentative quality of sorghum silage of small, medium and high size with different stem+leafs/head proportions (100:00, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, 20:80, 00:100), by means of lab analysis. The whole plant was used as control. The hybrids were cultivated and ensiled at 104 days of age in PVC lab silos measuring 10-cm of diameter by 40-cm of length (three replications per treatment). Silos were opened 56 days after the ensilage. The contents of dry matter (DM), soluble carbohydrates, ammonia nitrogen (N-NH3) and pH were determined. Differences were compared using SNK statistical test. Average silage pH value was 3.79 and N-NH3/total nitrogen values were lower than 8% for all treatments. Silage's DM values varied from 19.40 to 49.40%, but all treatments were well conserved considering pH and N-NH3. Silos densities were greater with the increase of head proportion. Original material soluble carbohydrate values were low for the majority of the treatments, but this did not prejudice the fermentation of the ensiled mass.
quality; stem+leafs/head proportion; silage; sorghum