Forage legumes for cattle rearing under eucalyptus forest on long-rotation in São Paulo State

• Grant number: 07/02550-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2008
• End date: December 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Maria Luiza Franceschi Nicodemo
• Grantee: Maria Luiza Franceschi Nicodemo
• Host Institution: Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Silvopastoral systems can be designed to produce high-value timber trees while providing short-term income from cattle, attracting small and medium landowners to silvoculture. In order to make the systems more efficient, it is necessary to increase the productivity of the forage under the tree shade. In the present study, the establishment, productivity and nutritional quality of eight legumes (Centrosema acutifolium, Clitoria ternatea, Pueraria phaseoloides, Estilosantes Campo Grande (Stylosanthes capitata + S. macrocephala), Arachis pintoi, Calopogonium mucunoides, Dolichos lab-lab e Aeschinomene vilosaee) pure or combined together will be evaluated, under moderate or heavy shade of a seven-year-old eucalyptus forest. Methods for the establishment of the legumes in the understory will be also evaluated: random seeding over the litter, no tilling; superficial tilling before random seeding; and superficial tilling after random seeding. The data generated shall help the establishment of silvopastoral systems in Brazilian Southeast , leading to more efficient utilisation of São Paulo state inner land. (AU)