The objective of this work was to evaluate the total operational cost (TOC) in silage production in the crop-livestock integrated system (CLIS), the dry matter yield (DMY), as well as the amount of crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) per area in each crop modality under irrigated conditions in the Brazilian Cerrado during two growing seasons (2010/2011 and 2011/2012). The experimental design was a randomized block, with four replications, with the treatments constituted of three modalities of cultivation of corn and sorghum crops for silage (single, intercropped with Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraés and Panicum maximum cv. Tanzânia). It was found in this study that the sorghum silage presented lower production cost than corn silage. The highest TOC was obtained by corn intercropped with Xaraés (BR$ 2,046.93 and BR $ 2,385.40), and the lowest in a single sorghum crop (BR$ 1,815.93 and BR $ 1,941.62) for both years. Treatments with single crop (sorghum and corn) provided higher values of DMY in the first season; however, in the second season, the highest values of DMY were provided by the intercropped system of both species with Panicum maximum cv. Tanzânia. The values of CP and TDN per area varied among the treatments in the two growing seasons and followed the DMY pattern, where the highest values were also provided by sorghum or corn intercropped with Tanzânia grass.
Brachiaria brizantha; Panicum maximum; Sorghum bicolor total operational cost; Zea mays
