COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF OAT SILAGE FROM DIFFERENT STATES OF MATURATION

Oat silages (OS) produced from oats in four stages of growing (start of flowering (OSSF), full flowering (OSFF), soft mass grain (OSSMG), hard mass grain (OSHMG) and one corn silage (CS) made in the stage of hard mass grain) were evaluated in a experiment of digestibility and nitrogen balance with lambs, with the purpose of indicate which is the most appropriate time for cutting of plants to produce a good quality silage. The experimental design was a 5 x 5 latin square. For the OS digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and fibrous fractions decreased linearly with the advance in the stage of maturity. The DM digestibility of CS and OSSF were similar, and larger than those of OSFF, OSSMG and OSHMG. The values for digestible organic matter (DOM) and for total digestible nutrients (TDN) for the OS decreased linearly with the advanced in the stage of maturity, even though the values for OSFF and for OSSMG being similar. The values of DOM and TDN for CS were higher than that observed for the OS. Dry matter intake increased linearly with the stage of maturity and with de DM content of OS. The dry matter intake of CS was similar to OAFF, OSSMG and OSHMG but larger than that of OSSF. There was no difference for nitrogen absorbed related to nitrogen retained among all treatments studied. For a good quality silage the oat plants must be cutted from the stage of start of flowering to full flowering.