Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare a silvopastoral system with a control (pasture only) in the Brazilian Cerrado. The silvopastoral system consisted of a tropical grass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu) pasture and trees (Zeyheria tuberculosa), while the control was a Marandu pasture without trees. Sheep intake, feeding behavior and microclimatic conditions were the variables evaluated. Temperatures within the silvopastoral system were lower than in the control (maximum temperature of 28 and 33.5 °C, temperature and humidity index of 74.0 and 79.2 for the silvopastoral system and control, respectively). There was increased dry matter intake (88.2 vs. 79.9 g DM/kg0.75 LW/d, P<0.05), organic matter intake (89.6 vs. 81.1 g OM/kg0.75 LW/d, P<0.05) and grazing time (572 vs. 288 min/d, P<0.05), and reduced total water intake (430 vs. 474 mL/kg0.75 LW/d, P<0.05) and walking time (30 vs. 89 min/d, P<0.05) in grazing sheep in the silvopastoral system relative to the control. The results suggest that a silvopastoral system would provide a more favorable environment than a straight pasture for sheep performance in a tropical grazing situation.Keywords: Animal behavior, microclimate, shade, sheep.DOI: 10.17138/TGFT(3)129-141
Highlights
Silvopastoral systems (SPS), a combination of trees, forages and animals, are increasingly being adopted throughout the tropics as a sustainable alternative to straight pasture for animal production, reducing the impacts of deforestation (Bocquier and Gonzalez-Garcia 2010; Maurício 2012) and increasing biodiversity (Dumont et al 2013)
Trees in SPS take up nutrients from deeper layers in the soil and make them available to forage through the decomposition of leaves, twigs, flowers and fruits, which fall to the ground, improving soil fertility and, the quality and yield of the pasture (Reis et al 2009)
Green leaf production in both systems followed that of Total dry matter (TDM) during the harvest periods
Summary
Silvopastoral systems (SPS), a combination of trees, forages and animals, are increasingly being adopted throughout the tropics as a sustainable alternative to straight pasture for animal production, reducing the impacts of deforestation (Bocquier and Gonzalez-Garcia 2010; Maurício 2012) and increasing biodiversity (Dumont et al 2013) In these systems, the dynamics of ecophysiological processes are different from those in traditional monoculture forage systems (Wilson et al 1990). Trees in SPS take up nutrients from deeper layers in the soil and make them available to forage through the decomposition of leaves, twigs, flowers and fruits, which fall to the ground, improving soil fertility and, the quality and yield of the pasture (Reis et al 2009) This can directly influence animal performance, since both quality and availability of nutrients are correlated with forage intake. The reduction of sunlight and ambient temperature provided by the tree shade should have an important microclimatic benefit for animals, resulting in increased forage intake and production (Paciullo et al 2011) and reduction in the expenditure of metabolic energy to maintain homeostatic equilibrium (Forbes 1995)
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