Productivity of beef cattle grazing Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu with and without nitrogen fertilizer application or mixed pastures with the legume Desmodium ovalifolium |
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Authors: | Camila Almeida dos Santos Rafael Cassador Monteiro Bruno Grossi Costa Homem Lucero Sarabia Salgado Daniel Rume Casagrande José Marques Pereira Cláudia de Paula Rezende Bruno José Rodrigues Alves Robert Michael Boddey |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Soil Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRRJ, Seropédica, Brazil;2. Department of Animal Sciences, Federal University of Lavras, UFLA, Lavras, Brazil;3. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Ciudad de México, Mexico;4. CEPLAC/CEPEC, Itabuna, Brazil;5. Animal Husbandry Experimental Station of the Extreme South of Bahia (CEPLAC/ESSUL), Itabela, Brazil;6. Embrapa Agrobiologia, Seropédica, Brazil |
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Abstract: | The use of forage legumes to contribute biologically fixed nitrogen (N) to pastures is an alternative to increase beef cattle production in tropical regions. The objective was to compare the impact of the introduction of a legume with that of N fertilizer application on forage and animal production in Brachiaria pastures. This two-year study assessed three pasture treatments: (1) mixed Marandu palisadegrass (Brachiaria brizantha syn. Urochloa brizantha] cv. Marandu) and the legume “ovalifolium” (Desmodium ovalifolium) cv. Itabela (Mixed), (2) Marandu palisadegrass pastures with 150 kg N ha?1 (Fertilized), and (3) Marandu palisadegrass without N fertilizer (Unfertilized). Rotational stocking with a variable stocking rate was used with a target herbage allowance of 1.0 kg forage kg body weight?1. The pre-grazing green herbage mass was similar for Fertilized and Mixed pastures, with 54% and 63% more mass than Unfertilized pasture, respectively (p < .001). Cattle that grazed the fertilized pasture had the greatest average daily gain (ADG; p = .017). The stocking rate and liveweight gain per area were greatest for the Fertilized and Mixed pastures (p < .001 and p < .001, respectively). No differences between treatments were found for DM forage intake (p = .555). Organic matter digestibility was lowest (p < .001) for the Mixed pasture. The inclusion of the ovalifolium legume in the Marandu pasture had the same impact on beef cattle production as annual fertilization with 150 kg N ha?1. The potential and environmental benefits of ovalifolium are discussed. |
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Keywords: | beef cattle Brachiaria fertilized pasture Grona heterocarpa subp ovalifolium mixed pasture Urochloa brizantha warm-season legume |
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