Leguminosas forrageiras na produção animal no Brasil

Abstract

Intensive farming practices have been causing alterations in the characteristics and quality of the soil, arising the need to adopt sustainable management techniques. Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world, but due to inadequate management practices, around 50% of these areas are degraded. Forage legumes have gained prominence as a sustainable alternative for animal feeding, not only because they present high nutritional value, but also because of their ability to establish symbiotic and associative relationships with nitrogen - fixing bacteria and plant growth promoters, which can partially or totally supply nitrogen demanded by the crops. Techniques of coinoculation with symbiotic and associative bacteria are considered as a key component in the recovery processes of degraded pastures because they provide a greater accumulation of biomass. The objective of this work was to present techniques to recover degraded pastures involving the use of forage legumes and the association with nitrogen - fixing bacteria in order to increase pasture productivity, making the system sustainable.