This researchwas developed to evaluate the agronomic characteristics, chemical compositionof the whole plants and their fractions of eight sorghum hybrids, to identifythe adapted plants to dry environmental conditions and appropriated to silageproduction. The experiment was conducted according to a randomized block design,with eight treatments and three replications, to study the commercial hybridsAG-2005, BR-700 and MASSA-03, and the non commercial hybrids 498111, 65E3, 698005,698007 and 699005. There were no significant differences among hybrids in relationto the plant height, dry matter production and leaf proportion, it was observedhighest stem content (43.3%) in the 498111 hybrid and lowest in the MASSA-03(29.9%). The 65E3 showed highest panicle contents (43.2%), however the lowestvalue was observed in the 498111 hybrid (28.9%). The contents of dry matter,ashes, hemicellulose, neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen, acid detergent insolublenitrogen and total digestible nutrients of the whole plant were similar amonghybrids. It was observed different values of crude protein ( 6.5 to 8.8%), neutraldetergent fiber (57.0 to 70.3%), acid detergent fiber (29.8 to 36.2%), cellulose(25.3 to 31.2%) and lignin (3.6 to 5.5%) of the hybrids. The content of solublecarbohydrates of hybrid 699005 (14.5%) was higher than the 698007 (9.6%). Thehybrids showed differences on chemical composition of the leaf, stem, and paniclefractions. The dry matter and soluble carbohydrates contents of all hybridswere appropriate to the ensilage process. The average dry matter yield of allhybrids was 6.2 t/ha. This value was high considering the low rainfall duringthe experimental period. The Cluster analyses suggest a group of the sorghumhybrids with higher dry matter production (DMP), lower panicle percentage, andTDN content, and others with lower DMP, but higher panicle percentage, and TDNvalues.
