The intake, digestibility, ruminal pH and ammonia concentrations and passage rate were evaluated in steers fed corn silage (CS) and Tifton 85 bermudagrass hay (T85H)-based diets, at different forage proportions. Four rumen fistulated steers with 523 kg of live weight were used in a 4x4 latin square design, and fed diets containing 60:40 forage:concentrate proportions in dry matter basis. The forage portion consisted of: 100 T85H:0 CS; 67 T85H:33 CS; 33 T85H:67 CS and 0 T85H:100 CS. The dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), digestible organic matter (DOM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total carbohydrates (TC) and total digestible carbohydrates (TDC) intakes were not affected by different T85H: CS proportions and averaged 9.2, 8.7, 6.4, 1.1, 3.7, 7.3 and 5.4 kg/day, respectively. The ethereal extract (EE) intake increased with increasing on corn silage proportion of the diets. The DM, OM, CP, EE and TC apparent digestibilities were not affected by increasing percentage of corn silage on rations and averaged 71.8, 73.0, 69.5, 69.2 and 73,9%, respectively. There was a quadratic effect for NDF digestibility, with maximum value of 65.2% for diets with 30.98% of CS. The N-ammonia maximum content (12.0 mg/100 ml) and minimum value of pH (5.98) were estimated 2.44 and 6.82 hours after feeding, respectively. The passage rate, which was not affected by changing T85H:CS proportions in the forage, averaged 4.2 %/hour.
intake; digestibility; in situ degradability; passage rate; maintenance
