This research was aimed at evaluating the efficiency of silage technique with or without additional ingredients for conserving the fruit of the calabash tree ( Crescentia cujete ) as a source of food for cattle in the tropical dry forest. Five treatments were distributed in a completely randomized design, following a 5 × 5 factorial scheme with five treatments and five conservation times (7, 14, 28, 56, and 90 days) in order to understand, not only the effect of treatments but also the effect of time on the assessed fermentation and quality parameters. Hence, experimental treatments were defined as follows: T0, consisting of unground and not ensiled fruits; T1, ensiled ground fruit with no additives; T2, ensiled ground fruit with 1.5% of common salt (NaCl) addition; T3, ensiled mixture of ground fruit and calabash tree foliage in a fresh basis of 30:70 fruit‐to‐roughage ratio; and T4, ensiled mixture of ground fruit and Angleton ( Dichanthium aristatum ) hay in a fresh basis of 50:50 fruit‐to‐roughage ratio. The fermentative profile (i.e., pH, buffer capacity, NH 3 ‐N, and organic acid concentrations), nutritional value, and losses (i.e., fresh matter, dry matter (DM), nutrients, and gas) were determined. Not ensiled calabash tree fruit (T0) showed undesirable conservation characteristics, with the highest pH, the highest losses, and the poorest nutritive value after 90 days. Inclusion of forage in silage in treatments T3 and T4 increased the DM and the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content compared to treatment T1. This dramatically reduced the specific density in treatment T4, which allowed fungus to appear and spoil the silage, resulting in a poor fermentative profile. T1 and T2 showed the lowest total losses, followed by T3. They also showed the highest concentrations of lactic acid and the lowest pH values, despite their high buffering capacity. The hard shells of the fruits were not sufficient to preserve the pulp and its nutritional value for more than 28 days. The addition of common NaCl did not improve the fermentative profile or nutritive value, so it is not necessary. This study has demonstrated the feasibility of silage technique as a method for preserving calabash tree fruit and suggest fruit silage without any additives followed by silage of ground fruit and calabash tree foliage mixture (30:70 fruit‐to‐roughage ratio) as efficient alternatives for preserving these feeds to supplement ruminant diets during dry season shortages in tropical farming systems. Further researches are necessary to evaluate the reproducibility and scalability of these results.