Grazing management of cover crops in Integrated crop-livestock systems

• Grant number: 19/22759-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: May 10, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Pastures and Forage Crops
• Principal Investigator: Flávia Fernanda Simili
• Grantee: Flávia Fernanda Simili
• Host Investigator: José Carlos Batista Dubeux Junior
• Host Institution: Instituto de Zootecnia. Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). Nova Odessa , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Florida, Marianna (UF), United States

Abstract

The aim is Develop best management practices regarding stocking rate by cattle and use of cover crops of cool-season to reduce nitrate leaching in sensitive water basins. The study will be located at the North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC) University Flórida in Marianna. A complete randomized block design will be used to assess treatments (plots), with three replications and nine treatments, totaling 27 experinental plots. The treatments will include the comparison between systems of row crop without interference of animal grazing; sod-based rotation (SBR) and integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems with different stocking rates, which will be monitored as a function of the amount post-grazing residual stubble mass. The impact of livestock on the system will be monitored and nitrate leaching, row crops productivity and soil organic matter will be measured according to the management. In this experiment we will Best technologies identified in small-scale plots, so that best management practices could be recommended to Row crop and livestock producers in the Jackson Blue Spring River Basins that will result in sustainable agricultural gains, along with adequate nitrate conservation. (AU)