Abstract
Diversification of monoculture grass pastures may provide opportunity for increased productivity, efficiency, and sustainability of forage-livestock systems. Our objective was to compare herbage accumulation (HA), nutritive value, and animal performance on a grass monoculture control and two alternative systems, all based on ‘Marandu’ palisadegrass [Brachiaria (syn. Urochloa) brizantha (A. Rich.) Stapf] in the Amazon Biome. Alternatives were a crop-livestock system based on soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and palisadegrass, and a eucalyptus [Eucalyptus urograndis (hybrid of E. grandis W. Hill ex Maiden and E. urophylla S. T. Blake) clone H13]-palisadegrass silvopasture. From July 2017 to May 2018 all experimental units were stocked continuously with beef cattle using a variable stocking rate to maintain a palisadegrass canopy height of 30 cm. The grass monoculture and silvopasture systems had similar HA (13,200 kg dry matter [DM] ha−1) and herbage accumulation rate (HAR; 40 kg DM ha−1 day−1), whereas crop-livestock resulted in greater HA (127%) and HAR (158%) than the other systems. Animal weight gain ha−1 for crop-livestock was 860 kg, 15% greater than for grass monoculture and silvopasture systems (average of 750 kg). Greatest palisadegrass HA and animal performance following 2 years of soybean production support the crop-livestock as an alternative for sustainable intensification. The similar HA and gain ha−1 in the seventh year of the silvopasture and grass monoculture indicates tree-pastures systems need wider arrangements to warrant long-term productivity. The maintenance of soil fertility, appropriate grazing management, and animal nutritional supplementation can greatly improve forage-based systems in the Amazon Biome.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by CNPq [479409/2013-7 and 303438/2015-0]; Embrapa [Grant Numbers 02.16.05.007.00.00]; Acrimat and ICLF Network. The authors acknowledge CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil) [Finance Code 001] and FAPEMAT for granting a scholarship to the first author; and Acrinorte for the partnership with the beef cattle used [44.771/14 and 50.168/2017].
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da Silva, F.S., Domiciano, L.F., Gomes, F.J. et al. Herbage accumulation, nutritive value and beef cattle production on marandu palisadegrass pastures in integrated systems. Agroforest Syst 94, 1891–1902 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-020-00508-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-020-00508-3