Abstract
Poster presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Highlights
Universidad de Los Andes, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Mérida, Estado Mérida, Venezuela. forest.ula.ve
The Llanos cover an estimated area of [15,16,17,18,19,20] M ha predominantly in the southeast and southwest of the country. They are mainly covered with native grasses (Trachypogon spp.), which have low carrying capacity (0.10‒0.25 AU/ha; 1 AU = 450 kg bovine)
Despite the presence of some forage tree species that are well adapted to savanna conditions, such as samán (Samanea saman), matarratón (Gliricidia sepium) and guácimo (Guazuma ulmifolia), their potential for intensive use in agroforestry systems has not been realized. Use of these species has been limited to living fences and providing shade for livestock
Summary
One of the limitations for the efficient production of meat and milk in livestock systems of Venezuela is the scarcity of high-protein forage from plants adapted to the acid soils and prolonged droughts of the Llanos (savannas). Despite the presence of some forage tree species that are well adapted to savanna conditions, such as samán (Samanea saman), matarratón (Gliricidia sepium) and guácimo (Guazuma ulmifolia), their potential for intensive use in agroforestry systems has not been realized Use of these species has been limited to living fences and providing shade for livestock. In 2003 it was estimated that [800‒1,500] ha of leucaena forage systems had been established in Venezuela, distributed mainly in the states of the western central zone: states of Zulia, Falcón, Lara, Yaracuy, Táchira, Trujillo, Barinas, Portuguesa, Cojedes and Aragua (Espinoza et al 2003). A significant limitation in the adoption of leucaena forage systems has been the limited availability and high cost of planting material This is the case for protein banks where high densities of 10,000‒20,000 plants/ha are required. The system increased the carrying capacity from 1 AU/ha to 3 AU/ha (Escalante et al 2011) and daily milk yields by 1.5 L/cow
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