Samples of Clitoria ternatea L. (Cunhã) were harvested at 35, 50, 70, and 90 d after a uniformity harvest in a field study designed as a completely randomized design with a total of 18 experimental plots. The dry matter yield of the whole plant was separated quantitatively into leaves, stems, and pods at each harvesting age. Chemical analyses and in vitro gas production kinetics were performed to assess the quality of the plant parts. Yields, chemical composition, and estimates of gas production parameters were analyzed by fitting a mixed statistical model with two types of covariance structures as follows: variance components and an unrestricted structure with heterogeneous variances. Fast and slow gas yielding pools were detected for both leaves and stems, but only a single pool was detected for pods. The homoscedasticity assumption was more likely for all variables, except for some parameters of the gas production kinetics of leaves and stems. There was no presence of typical pods at 35 and 50 d. In the leaves, the fibrous fractions were affected, whereas the non-fibrous fractions were unaffected by the harvesting age. The harvesting age affected the majority of the chemical constituents and gas kinetic parameters related to the stems. The leaves of this legume were the least affected part by the aging process.

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ResumoObjetivou-se neste estudo avaliar a composição de cálcio, fósforo e potássio e, a relação folha/haste de quatro leguminosas forrageiras tropicais: Calopogonium mucunoides (calopogônio), Pueraria phaseoloides (kudzu tropical), Macrotyloma axillare (macrotiloma) e Neonotonia wightii (soja perene), submetidas a diferentes níveis de sombreamento artificiais (0, 30, 50 e 70%), nas estações de verão e outono dos anos de 2006 e 2007, respectivamente. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos completos casualizados em esquema fatorial 4x4, com quatro repetições. Utilizou-se o teste SNK a 5% de probabilidade para avaliar o efeito da espécie leguminosa e análise de regressão para testar o efeito do nível de sombreamento. Houve uma tendência de aumento na concentração dos 3 minerais avaliados independentes da estação do ano. Em contrapartida, ocorreu redução na relação folha/haste e um ligeiro aumento na área foliar específica do macrotiloma, kudzu tropical e soja perene (R 2 ≅ 40%), o que sugere pouco efeito do sombreamento sobre a morfologia das folhas destas 3 leguminosas, que por sua vez apresentam pouco efeito concentrador de minerais, além destas constatação confirma-se o comportamento anual do calopogônio, o que inviabiliza seu emprego como leguminosa forrageira para a estação de outono. Palavras-chave: Calopogonium mucunoides, Macrotyloma axillare, Neonotonia wightii Pueraria phaseoloides AbstractThe objective of this study was to evaluate the composition of calcium, phosphorus and potassium, and the leaf: stem ratio of four tropical forage legumes: Calopogonium mucunoides (calopo), Pueraria phaseoloides (puero), Macrotyloma axillare (archer) and Neonotonia wightii (perennial soybean), under different levels of artificial shade (0, 30, 50 and 70%) in the summer and autumn seasons of 2006 and 2007, respectively. The experimental design was a randomized complete block in factorial 4x4 design with four replications. Was used SNK test at 5% probability to evaluate the effect of the legume species

-The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of F1 (Holstein × Zebu) cows in lactation according to different levels of substitution of soybean meal for a protein equivalent non-protein nitrogen originated from slow-release urea (SRU). Eight F1 (Holstein × Zebu) cows in the first third of lactation, with an average milk yield of 12.7 kg (±3.1 kg)/day and a live weight of 552 kg (±30 kg), were used. The experimental design was composed of two simultaneous 4 × 4 Latin squares, with the following treatments: 100% soybean meal and 0% SRU; 66% soybean meal and 34% SRU; 34% soybean meal and 66% SRU; and 0% soybean meal and 100% SRU. Sorghum silage, used as roughage, was supplied together with the concentrate. Feed intake and digestibility as well as milk yield and milk composition were measured. The obtained data were subjected to analysis of variance, adopting a 5% probability level. No intake variable showed significant differences among the treatments, and the mean values for the intakes of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were 18.35 2.62 and 5.85 kg/day, respectively. The results for apparent digestibility also did not show differences among treatments, with DM, CP and NDF averaging 58.16, 58.64 and 36.21%, respectively. Milk yield and composition were similar among the treatments. The average 4%-fat-corrected milk yield was 13.39 kg/animal.day. Intake, digestibility and milk yield and composition variables are not changed according to the substitution of the soy protein for slow-release urea. Thus, for average-milk-yield crossbred animals, this substitution depends on economic variables only.