This work aimed to evaluate the effect of the sorghum growth stage on the silage chemical composition, intake milk production and fat compared with corn silage to dairy cows. The experiment was carried out at the "São Bento do Una" research Stattion, from IPA, located in "São Bento do Una", Pernambuco, Brazil. Nine holstein lactating cows were distributed in three Latin squares design. The squares were formed according to milk yield and the lactating order and consisted of three cows and three periods. Each period was performed by 28 days. The following treatments were tested: CS -- corn silage, SSB -- sorghum silage in a boot stage and, SSM -- sorghum silage in a milk grain stage in addition to 25 kg of spineless cactus animal/day and commercial concentrate according to milk production. The animals fed with corn silage showed the highest dry matter intake of the silage and of the total diet, when compared to those fed with sorghum silage at the two growth stage tested. There were no significant effects of the vegetative stage on sorghum silage intake. It was observed higher milk yield and 4% fat corrected milk yield for the animals that consumed corn silage compared to the animals that received sorghum silage in the milk grain stage. The cows fed with sorghum silage at the boot stage did not differ fron those fed the other two treatments. No significant differences were observed among the tested silages for the milk fat content.
chemical composition; intake; growth stage; milk production; silage; sorghum
