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

• Grant number: 20/05592-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2020
• End date: September 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Cristiana Andrighetto
• Grantee: Juliana Moura Oliveira
• Host 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 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 alternative 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 component in the same place. The shading of trees improves the thermal conditions, promoting the thermal comfort of the animals, that 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 willbe used in a randomized bolck design with two treatments ando four replications. Teh treatments wil be: Treatmnet 1: convencional pasture, wuithout the tree componente. Treament 2: Integrates livestock forest systems, with eucalptus 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 analysed using the program R.