Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
Forage trees are commonly used in the tropics as supplementary feed for ruminants. However, during the dry season where grass is of poor quality, many trees also shed their leaves and are no longer available. Adequate strategies are to be evaluated to allow forage trees to be introduced into feeding systems as good quality supplements along the year. Silage might be an adequate technology if the resultant product allow similar animal performance as those achieved using commercial concentrate as supplement, but few studies have been conducted with forage tree silages. The objective of the present experiment was to evaluate intake, digestibility and microbial-N synthesis of diets supplemented with grains or forage tree silage.