Abstract
Pasture management can affect cattle diets. Post-grazing stubble height is a structural characteristic intrinsically linked to forage quantity and quality. Stubble height also indicates forage utilization rate, and as a result, affects nutrient return pathways (excreta or litter) and, ultimately, nutrient cycling. While deposition of cattle excreta affects soil chemical and physical characteristics (Carran and Theobald 2000), slow release of nutrients from cattle dung delays nutrient bioavailability for subsequent forage growth (Haynes and Williams 1993). This study evaluated how different post-grazing stubble heights on elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) pastures may affect cattle dung decomposition and nutrient release.
Highlights
Bags were placed in a forced-air oven drier for 72 h at 65 °C and weighed thereafter
Incubated fecal samples were not ground in order to preserve original surface
Fecal C:N ratio decreased with increasing exposure period (Table 1)
Summary
Post-grazing stubble height is a structural characteristic intrinsically linked to forage quantity and quality. Stubble height indicates forage utilization rate, and as a result, affects nutrient return pathways (excreta or litter) and, nutrient cycling. While deposition of cattle excreta affects soil chemical and physical characteristics (Carran and Theobald 2000), slow release of nutrients from cattle dung delays nutrient bioavailability for subsequent forage growth (Haynes and Williams 1993). This study evaluated how different post-grazing stubble heights on elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) pastures may affect cattle dung decomposition and nutrient release
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