Dry matter intake by beef steers on Piata palisadegrass (Brachiaria brizantha cv BRS Piata) pasture

摘要

Beef production in Brazil is primarily based on tropical pastures and 85% of these pastures arc Brachiaria hrizantha cv. Marandu. Such a monoculture could prove disastrous if some pest or disease emerged. With the goal of further diversifying pasturesand contributing to the sustainability of the pasture production system, B. hrizantha cv. BRS Piata was released by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). Little is known about the characteristics of this cultivar in relation to grazing management and plant-animal interactions. Dry matter (DM) intake by grazing animals is influenced by the structural characteristics of tropical grasses (Stobbs 1973, 1975), and the presence of stem and dead material at the grazing horizon limits bitedepth (Carvalho et al. 2008). Under such conditions, it is common to observe a reduction in bite rate and increases in time per bite and daily grazing time (Difante et al. 2009), resulting in inefficient harvesting and lower herbage intake. The aim of this work was to estimate the DM intake by beef steers grazing Piata palisadcgrass managed at 3 grazing intensities.