Abstract
The present study aimed to assess the productive performance, ingestive behavior, and thermal condition of crossbred beef heifers in an integrated livestock-forest (ILF) system with different tree-planting designs. Seventy-two ½ Angus ½ Nellore heifers were divided in three treatments—conventional system (CS) without eucalyptus, integrated livestock system with 187 eucalyptus ha−1 (ILF-1L), and integrated livestock system with 446 eucalyptus ha−1 (ILF-3L)—, in the winter and summer. Total dry mass of forage (TDM), chemical analysis of Marandu palisadegrass, average daily gain [...]
Highlights
The demand for products generated via efficient use of natural resources and animal welfare has increased in recent years (Broom, 2017)
There were no differences for neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (P = 0.1576), acid detergent fiber (ADF) (P = 0.0710), LIG (P = 0.1674), Mineral material (MM) (P = 0.4627), and In vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) (P = 0.3598) between the evaluated systems (Table 1)
The percentage of crude protein (CP) was higher in the integrated livestock-forest (ILF)-1L and ILF-3L systems and lower in the conventional system (CS) (P = 0.0022)
Summary
The demand for products generated via efficient use of natural resources and animal welfare has increased in recent years (Broom, 2017). Thermal stress in tropical regions due to high temperatures can cause deleterious effects on behavior, animal welfare (Vizzotto et al, 2015; Broom, 2017; Giro et al, 2019), and production (Vizzotto et al, 2015; Pantoja et al, 2017; Kamal et al, 2018). An integrated livestock-forest (ILF) system or a silvopastoral system includes three components: the animal, the forage, and the trees. These systems are an alternative that can sustainably diversify production and increase productivity and income of rural producers. They improve animal welfare through better thermal comfort provided by the tree shade (FAO, 2010). The amount of shade afforded in the ILF system modifies the environment, and protects the animal from excessive heat emitting due to direct solar radiation (Emerenciano Neto et al, 2013) and decreases
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