Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate nutrient intake and digestibility, yield and components of milk from Holstein × Zebu cows on Tanzania grass pastures using a fixed-rest period or 95% light interception. The treatments consisted of evaluations of two Tanzania-grass pasture-management strategies: LI95 - when the pasture reached 95% light interception (LI), with 3 paddock-occupation days; and FR - the pasture was managed with a 30-days defoliation interval (DI) and 3 paddock-occupation days. Ten recently calved cows per treatment in year 1 and eight cows per treatment in year 2 were used, i.e. five cows per replicate in year 2 and four cows per replicate in year 2. Intake and digestibility of pasture nutrients, milk yield and milk composition were evaluated. The management strategies imposed on the Tanzania-grass pasture did not affect nutrient intake or digestibility. Milk yield and milk components were not affected by the management strategies, but milk yield per area unit was affected by the use of 95% light interception. The management strategy applying 95% light interception implies greater efficiency in the use of area, which translates to a higher milk yield per unit area, and thus it can be recommended to increase milk yield per area.
Highlights
Milk production systems on pasture have attracted increasing attention from technicians and producers as they allow for production with low costs, which promotes competitiveness and profitability in the industry
The literature reports that today it is possible to obtain from 12 to 14 kg/cow/d of milk on elephant grass pastures fertilized with 200 kg/ha/yr of nitrogen during the rainy season when managed under rotational stocking, with a 30-day defoliation interval (DANES et al, 2013)
The dry matter intake (DMI) is correlated with the digestibility of dry matter (DMD), because as DMD is increased, the DMI will increase until the energy requirement is met
Summary
Milk production systems on pasture have attracted increasing attention from technicians and producers as they allow for production with low costs, which promotes competitiveness and profitability in the industry. Due to the reasonable cost of the pasture dry matter, this milk yield level should be maximized by the use of developed techniques for pasture management such as light interception and post-grazing residual heights, as shown in the studies (BRUNETTI et al., 2016; CARVALHO et al, 2017; LEE; DONAGHY; ROCHE, 2008;). The objective of these pasture-management techniques is to exploit the productive potential of forage plants. Besides indicating the yield, knowledge of the growth characteristics of grasses indicates the pasture defoliation intensity, in the case of continuous stocking, and the grazing frequency, in the case of rotational stocking (ZANINI; SANTOS; SBRISSIA, 2012)
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