The objective ofthe present study was to evaluate the nutritional value of elephant-grass silagescontaining annato byproduct. Twenty intact rams were distributed in a completerandomized block design with five diets (0; 4; 8; 12 and 16% annato byproductin the silage) and four replications and used to estimate the intake, apparentnutrient digestibility, content of total digestible nutrients and nitrogen balance.The addition of annato byproduct raised the intakes of dry matter (DM), organicmatter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergentfiber (ADF), ether extract (EE), total carbohydrates (TC), non-fibrous carbohydrates(NFC) and total digestible nutrients (TDN), in body weight (%BW) and in metabolicweight (g kg-1BW0.75). The digestibilities of DM (55.95%), OM (58.19%), CP (45.34%),NDF (52.79%), ADF (45.79%), EE (34.96%) and NFC (99.86%) were not influencedby the addition of annato byproduct. The inclusion of annato byproduct in elephant-grasssilage increased digestibility of total carbohydrates, the TDN content and thenitrogen balance. The aditions of annato byproduct at levels up to 16% of theelephant grass silage natural matter improves nutrient intake and nitrogen balance.
