Performance of feedlot lambs fed high-moisture grain corn silage or reconstituted grain corn silage in replacement of dry corn grain in the diet

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the replacement of different corn grains (dry corn grain, reconstituted grain corn silage and high-moisture grain corn silage) on th epreformance of feedlot lambs. Sixty lambs (males and females) were randomly assigned to five treatments with twelve replicates and fed ilsoprotein and isoenergetic diets, in different treatments: T1= (RCGS) reconstituted grain corn silage; T2 = (DCG) dry corn grain; T3 = 50% RCGS + 50% DCG; T4 = (HMGCS) high-moisture grain corn silage; T5 = 50% HMGCS + 50% DCG. Oat hay was the used forage. Average daily gain and feed: gain ratio at 28, 56 and 73 days of feedlot were evaluated. The diet with the total replacement of the dry com grain by the high-moisture grain com silage showed higher average daily gain at the 73 days than at that one at 28 and 56 days of feedlot confinement. This can be explained by the best digestibility presented by the silages, attributed to the gelatinization suffered by starch during the process. In that case, the high-moisture grain corn silage can be efficiently used in diets for lambs.