Ingestive behavior of heifers on Brachiaria pasture deferred with different periods of sealing

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate four deferral periods for pastures of Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk, and the implications on the ingestive behavior of crossbred heifers. Animals were distributed in a completely randomized design with four periods (63, 84, 105 and 126 days), each with three replications. The time spent daily by animals on grazing, idle, rumination and in the trough was not affected by periods of sealing the pastures, with mean values of 566.6; 422.29; 426.9 and 24.1 minutes, respectively. The number of feeding stations, the time spent in the stations and the number of feeding stations per minute were not different between periods of sealing the pastures, averaging 106.4; 34.6 and 3.0, respectively. The number of bites and the number of bites per minute showed a quadratic effect, with a point of maximum equal to 1,098 bites and 31 bites per minute, observed on days 93 and 88, respectively. Feed efficiency was linearly decreasing influenced by periods of sealing the pastures. Periods of grazing and idle, the number of bites, the number of bites per minute and feed efficiency are influenced by different deferral periods of pastures under the conditions of this study.