Performance and hematological parameters of Nellore heifers in integrated livestock forest system

• Grant number: 20/05592-7
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal researcher: Cristiana Andrighetto
• Grantee: Juliana Moura Oliveira
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Tecnológicas. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Dracena. Dracena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Brazilian meat production is of great importance on the world stage due to this country be one of the largest producers and the largest exporter, in this context, the demand for new technology and strategies grows for increasing productivity with sustainability. Crop livestock systems are viable alternatives for sustainable meat production. The integration livestock forest system is a modality of integrated crop-livestock systems that, through the implementation of production techniques, integrated animals, and forage with tree components in the same place. The shading of trees improves the thermal conditions, promoting the thermal comfort of the animals, which can affect the productivity of the herd. The objective of the project will be to evaluate the performance, microclimate variables, thermal comfort index and hematological parameters of Nellore heifers in a conventional system (without trees) integrated livestock forest system with 446 eucalyptus ha-1. Thirty-two Nellore heifers will be used in a randomized block design with two treatments and four replications. The treatments will be Treatment 1: conventional pasture, without the tree component. Treatment 2: Integrates livestock forest systems, with eucalyptus planted in triple lines trees (446 trees ha-1) The experiment will be conducted at Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios, located in Andradina, SP. The evaluations will be carried out: measurement of forage dry mass, forage bromatological analysis, animal performance, temperature, relative humidity, temperature and humidity Index, blood count, total protein, albumin, and globulin. The data will be analyzed using the program R. (AU)