The effects of different management strategies on improving growth and modifying the botanical composition of C3 and C4 perennial grasses grown in a mixed canopy are underexplored. We aimed to evaluate the botanical composition and vegetation dynamics of a mixed canopy containing kikuyugrass (Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. Ex Chiov) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreber cv. Rizomat) subjected to four grazing management strategies over 22 mo. The experimental design was a randomized complete block in a factorial arrangement (two maintenance canopy heights: grazed to 7 cm in the autumn, or uninterrupted and maintained at 12 or 17 cm) with three replicates. The plots were sampled every month throughout the experimental period; the forage mass data were used to determine the botanical composition and leaf area index of the canopy. Although autumn grazing to 7‐cm height promoted an increase in pasture leaf proportion, it did not represent an effective augment in pasture leaf mass in the following winter–spring season. Canopies heights managed at 17 cm presented a greater proportion of tall fescue in herbage mass (81%) compared with those maintained at 12 cm (73%). Severe defoliation in the autumn delayed the regrowth to 12‐ or 17‐cm canopy heights by approximately 90–120 d in both evaluation years. From a farm‐level perspective, this result would restrict the recommendation of this grazing management strategy because this time lapse would demand that the pastures not be grazed for the 25–33% period of the year compared with the pastures that were not grazed in the autumn.
In many subtropical regions, the annual thermal amplitude and the absence of a well-defined dry season allow the cultivation of forage grass species in both the cool and warm seasons, allowing pasturebased animal production year-round. Generally, this is achieved by sod-seeding annual cool-season species such as annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) or oats (Avena strigosa) into annual/perennial C4 species. A similar (but much less explored) alternative to animal production models in subtropics is the mixture of perennial cool-and warm-season forage grasses. One of the warm-season perennial grasses well adapted to regions with a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb), where mean air temperature in the hottest month is below 22℃ (Alvares et al., 2013), is kikuyugrass (Pennisetum clandestinum; Bell et al., 2013;García et al., 2014). When growing in such environments, most forage of this species is produced during the summer/
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