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Effect of herbage allowances, in grazing, on insurgente sward and heifer production in the humid tropic

Abstract:

A study was made of the effect of three herbage allowances (3, 5 and 7 kg MS leaves * d-1) on present herbage mass, sward height, protein content, in vitro digestibility and daily weight gain per heifer, individual and per surface, in an Insurgente grass sward (Brachiaria brizantha A. Richard Stapf), in Playa Vicente, Veracruz, México. A randomized complete blocks design with three replicates was used. Nine paddocks of 0.50 ha were used with two heifers per paddock. The grazing was rotational with 3 d of occupation and 30 d for regrowth. There were no statistical differences (p>0.05) among herbage allowances present before grazing and for morphological components. The protein content of leaves and stems increased (p≤0.05) when the age of the regrowth was increased from 1 to 15 d and did not change until 30 d of growth. Results were similar for the in vitro degradability of the dry matter of leaves, while in the stems it increased with the age of the regrowth. There were no differences among allowances in daily weight increase of the heifers, but the daily weight gain ha-1 increased when the herbage allowance was reduced from 7 to 3 kg MS leaves *100 kg-1 LW * d-1.