Pasture management strategies for establishment, productivity, environmental impact and sheep performance in grass-legume intercropping systems

• Grant number: 18/23246-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2019
• End date: August 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Pastures and Forage Crops
• Principal Investigator: Flavia Maria de Andrade Gimenes
• Grantee: Flavia Maria de Andrade Gimenes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Zootecnia. Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). Nova Odessa , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Cristina Maria Pacheco Barbosa ; Enilson Geraldo Ribeiro ; Flávia Fernanda Simili ; Linda Monica Premazzi ; Luciana Gerdes ; Marilia Barbosa Chiavegato ; Ricardo Lopes Dias da Costa ; Taise Robinson Kunrath ; Waldssimiler Teixeira de Mattos
• Associated scholarship(s): 21/05236-9 - Animal productivity, canopy structure and nutritional value in mixed pastures of legumes and grass managed under continuous stocking with sheep, BP.TT; 19/04938-0 - Pasture management strategies for establishment, productivity, environmental impact and sheep performance in grass-legume intercropping systems, BP.TT

Abstract

The objective of this study will be to evaluate pasture establishment, productivity, environmental impact and sheep performance using different management strategies of multispecies pastures intercropped with corn. Corn, the forage legumes Macrotiloma axillare NO 279, Neonotonia wightii NO 2348, Calopogonium mucunoides NO 1824 and Stylosanthes guianensis NO 1327 from the Active Germplasm Bank of Instituto de Zootecnia, and Aruana grass (Panicum maximum cv. Aruana) will be planted simultaneously in December 2018. Pasture establishment and the production and nutritive value of corn silage will be described. After corn harvest, the multispecies pasture will be evaluated in four treatments of forage canopy height (15, 30, 45, and 60 cm) maintained under continuous stocking, with a variable stocking rate per sheep, in a randomized block design consisting of four replicates (16 paddocks of 500 m2 each) until December 2020. In each season of the year, forage mass, botanical and morphological composition of the forage, forage accumulation (exclusion cages), canopy structure, bromatological composition, and digestibility of hand-plucked pasture samples will be evaluated. Soil compaction, soil moisture, and CO2 emission from soil will also be analyzed. Animal performance will be measured in two tester animals per experimental unit by weight recordings every 28 days. The results will contribute to the determination of management targets for Aruana and legume multispecies pastures that provide the maximum presence of legumes in the forage mass and highest animal production. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ONGARO, ANA FLAVIA BASTOS; MARTUSCELLO, JANAINA AZEVEDO; GIMENES, FLAVIA MARIA DE ANDRADE; BATISTA, ANA CAROLINA LOPES; PENTEADO, LUCAS FERREIRA; PREMAZZI, LINDA MONICA; DE MATTOS, WALDSSIMILER TEIXEIRA; VIEIRA, MARCELO MORETIN; DA COSTA, RICARDO LOPES DIAS; GERDES, LUCIANA. Canopy height impact on legume mass and Megathyrsus maximus tiller dynamics in mixed pastures. ACTA AGRICULTURAE SCANDINAVICA SECTION B-SOIL AND PLANT SCIENCE, v. 73, n. 1, p. 13-pg., 2023-12-31. (21/11382-8, 19/24550-6, 18/23246-9, 20/12256-3)