The work was carried out to evaluate the voluntaryintake, feed conversion and weight gain of bovines in feedlot, fed with elephantgrasssilage (Penisetum purpereum, Schum.) with and without acipin associatedwith two protein sources, and to evaluate also the digestibility of dry matterof elephantgrass silage. The experimental feedlot was conducted during 167 days,with 28 steers, average 24 months old and initial average live weight of 310kg. Four rations (T1: silage with acipin and urea; T2: silage with acipin andsoybean meal as protein source; T3: silage without acipin and urea and; T4:silage without acipin and soybean meal as protein source) were used. The silagewas fed once a day, in the morning, and the concentrate (4 kg/animal/day) twice,in the morning and afternoon. Average daily dry matter intakes (kg) were: T1-6.38; T2- 6.83; T3- 6.59 and T4- 6.78. Feed conversions (kg of dry matter/kgweight gain) were, T1- 11.15; T2- 11.51; T3- 12.79 and T4- 10.46. The averagedaily weight gains were: T1- 0.552; T2- 0.593; T3- 0.515 and T4- 0.648. Drymatter intake, weight gain and feed: gain ratio of steers were not differentamong treatments. No differences were observed on dry matter digestibility coefficientsof elephantgrass silages with and without acipin.
