Nutritional Evaluation of Sugarcane Cultivars for Ruminants

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional quality of twenty-nine cultivars of sugarcane. The design was completely randomized, with twenty-nine treatments (cultivars) and three replicates. The evaluations were performed at 540 days after planting during the phenological stage of maturation of sugar cane. Stalk length, number of nodes per plant, internodes length and stalk diameter were evaluated. The stalk samples were crushed, pre-dried and ground for achievement of chemical analysis, carbohydrate fractionation and in vitro digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Data were analyzed by analysis of variance and posteriorly submitted to Scott-Knott test at 5% probability. Regarding biometric measurements the cultivars differed (P<0.05) for the stalk length, but there was no difference (P>0.05) in the number of nodes as well as in the average internode length and stalk diameter. The content of DM, OM, protein, ether extract, NDF and acid detergent fiber showed differences between the cultivars evaluated (P<0.05). Carbohydrate fractionation also differed between cultivars (P <0.05), being that cultivars RB86 7515, RB92 806 and RB03 6091 presented high fraction of rapidly degradable carbohydrates. The highest values of in vitro digestibility of DM and OM occurred for cultivars RB86 7515, RB92 579 and RB03 6091 (P<0.05). Considering the variables analyzed, the cultivars RB03 6091, RB92 579 and RB86 7515 showed greater concentration of rapidly degradable carbohydrates and greater in vitro digestibility of DM and OM demonstrating potential for use in ruminant feeding.