Volumosos tratados com aditivos químicos: valor nutritivo e desempenho de ruminantes

This study aimed at gathering information on the action of chemical additives used in roughage for their application in ruminant feeding. Chemical additives can improve the use of lower quality materials such as by-products of agribusiness and forage with undesirable characteristics for silage and hay production processes. The main chemical additives present alkaline properties that may interfere with the fermentation of silage by modifying pH, and consequently the composition of the microflora, thus favouring or inhibiting microbial groups. As a result, they can reduce effluents and gas losses, while diminishing the degradation of soluble carbohydrates, as well as inhibiting the production of undesirable metabolites such as acetic acid and ethanol. Calcium and sodium salts based alkaline additives may promote the modification of the cell wall, increasingly exposing some compounds, so that making the dry matter digestibility increase easier. Yet, acid additives can reduce losses and improve feed utilization by animals, becoming an interesting option in order to reduce the losses in silage and hay products, making it feasible to use materials with adverse characteristics for preservation. The use of chemical additives for the production of hay and silage is, therefore a feasible alternative to improve the nutritional value of food, providing us with satisfactory responses in the performance of ruminants.