The intake of DM DMI is determinant for ingress of nutrients to cater to the requirements for animal maintenance and production, principally the intake of protein and energy. The end-products of fermentation can afect the intake of silages and inluence animal performance, since some organic acids negatively inluence the intake of silage and digestibility of nutrients. For example, acetic and butyric acid have large efects on the intake of silage. Ammonia also can negatively afect the intake of silages. The digestibility can be inluenced by end-products of fermentation and change the characteristics of ensiled plants. The objective of this chapter is to explain how silage end-products of fermentation and changes in the structure of forage resulting from the ensiling process can afect the intake and digestibility of silages. Some control mechanisms of silage fermentation can be used to improve the intake and digestibility of silage. Biological or chemical additives may contribute to the increased intake of silage and improve digestibility. Appropriate management techniques can inluence the result.Keywords: acetic acid, ammonia, animal nutrition, butyric acid, forage ensiling
. IntroductionEnsilage is the method of forage conservation based on conversion of water-soluble carbohydrates in organic acids by the activity of lactic acid bacteria, which reduces the pH and preserve the fresh forage [1].The ensiling process show advantages such as conservation of large quantities of forage in short time and forage conservation is less weather dependent. However, a disadvantage of the ensiling process is the relative reduction of feeding value of the silage when compared to the © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.original crop [2]. Although, correct management of silages and use of additives may stimulate the intake of silages and improve the digestibility of silages.The forages may have changes in the nutritive value due to the procedures during production, conservation and post-opening management and biochemical and microbiology phenomena [3]. Besides the conversion of carbohydrates in organic acids occurs by the partial breakdown of proteins, which gives the non-protein structures. These changes depend on the interaction between microorganisms on the material to be ensiled and amount and type of the substrate [4].The silage quality afects the intake and digestibility of ruminants. Basically, the main factors that can interfere with the fermentation of the silage is th...