13 páginas, 5 tablas.This experiment was carried out with the objective of determining the nutritive value of Tithonia diversifolia to different bud ages during the two periods of the year. A 0.5 ha field was used, where a standardization cut at 15 cm high from the soil was applied at the beginning of each period. The ages taken into consideration were 60, 120 and 180 days, and the elements evaluated were the RP, the fibrous fractioning, the dry matter In vitro digestibility, the wall cell digestibility and the tanins. To this purpose, a random- block design with three treatments and four repetitions was used through the application of a double classification analysis, and the average results were compared by means of the multiple ranges Duncan test. The statistical program utilized was Statiics version 6.0 for Windows. In the chapter that deals with the analysis of the results, it is evident that the dry matter, NDF, ADF, ADL, Hemicellulous, TF, TCT, CTAF and FTC increased their content (29. 47 %, 50. 51 %, 32. 12 %, 32. 12 %, 18. 39 %, 6.47, 13. 11, 10. 12, and 2. 99 g/kg respectively) at the age of 180 days, whereas the raw protein, the cellulous, the cell content, the In vitro digestibility and the wall cell digestibility decreased with their highest value (28.95, 21.08, 56.34, 78.59 y 76.61 %) at the age of 60 days. As a conclusion, age had a marked effect on the behavior of the evaluated elements, which was stronger during the rainy season, decreasing the nutritive quality.Trabajo realizado con financiación del Programa de Cooperación Interuniversitaria e Investigación Científica de la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (Proyecto AECID A/023167/09).Peer Reviewe
