Forage production and quality of tropical forage legumes submitted to shading

Fábio Nunes Lista,Pablo Giliard Zanella,João Carlos De Carvalho Almeida,Saulo Alberto Do Carmo Araujo,Bruno Borges Deminicis

doi:10.1590/0103-8478cr20170726

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Find shade-tolerant species is essential to the success of silvopastoral systems, increasingly frequent in recent years. In legumes, which have potential of biological nitrogen fixation, there is a great lack of knowledge when in shaded environments.The cultivation of four tropical forage (Neonotonia wightii, Pueraria phaseoloides, Macrotyloma axilare and Arachis pintoi) was evaluated when submitted to artificial shade levels (30, 50 and 70% shade) and in full sun during water and drought seasons. The design used was in randomized complete blocks in a sub-divided plot scheme with four replications. In the Water-season the Forage Peanuts had higher forage production in full sun (11 ton ha-1 DM), and under shade did not differ from Perennial Soybean, higher than the others in all levels of shade. In Drought-season the forage production was 61% lower than in Water-season. The highest crude protein levels were reported in Forage Peanuts, Tropical Kudzu and Perennial Soybean, 19.0; 18.3 and 18.2% respectively in the Water-season. Forage Peanuts is a good option for use in silvopastoral systems although there is a small reduction in forage production (average of 23.7%). In general, species of fabaceae showed a greater reduction in forage production in the period of water deficit; however, shading at levels of 30% to 50% contribute to mitigation of water shortage. Although, there is a small reduction in forage production, withexception of perennial soybeans in dry season, it is advisable to use tropical forage legumes in silvopastoral systems, since forage quality is not affected by shade.

Highlights

Brazil has great potential in terms of animal production, a result of interaction between large territorial extensions and tropical climate, which provides an excellent condition for animal exploitation
It is necessary to identify the species that tolerate the best shade cultivation, as well as the levels of shading that interferes on the forage to obtain the advantages offered by the existing consortium in the SSPs (SOARES et al, 2009), in this sense, the objective of this study was to evaluate the forage production and quality of Neonotonia wightii, Pueraria phaseoloides, Macrotyloma axilare and Arachis pintoi submitted to different levels of shading (30, 50 and 70% shading) and full sun
Forage production varied with the interaction between Fabaceae species, shade level and period of the year (p=0.0095)

Summary

Introduction

Brazil has great potential in terms of animal production, a result of interaction between large territorial extensions and tropical climate, which provides an excellent condition for animal exploitation. These characteristics make possible the use of pasture production systems, considering the development that is presented by tropical forages, which constitutes a low cost food and is the main component of cattle feeding (EUCLIDES, 2000). According to ALVES et al (2005) and PAIVA (1997), the rainy season in the Southeast region of Brazil is concentrated between October and March, when more than 80% of the annual rainfall occurs Due to this characteristic, this well-defined precipitation regime is characterized as a monsoon system, similar to that of a monsoon region of Southeast Asia (VEIGA et al, 2002)

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