Grazing criteria for perennial peanut (Arachis pintoi cv. Amarillo) consumed by sheep in rotational stocking

Abstract

The objective of work was to study the productive profile of perennial peanut in a rotational stocking environment under different criteria. The treatments corresponded to pre-grazing height of 14 and 18cm or 95% of light interception (LI) distributed in a completely randomized design. The studied variables were forage mass, percentage of structural components, forage mass and the structural components in the lower and upper canopy strata. The entrance criterion of 18cm in height, despite having higher forage mass, presented lower percentage of leaves and higher percentage of stems and forage losses. The criteria of 14cm and 95% light interception presented similar production between them and the highest rate of forage accumulation. In all criteria, in the upper strata of pasture a higher percentage of leaves were found. The criteria of 95% LI and 14cm in height presented the best productive performances. The entry criterion of 18cm presented a higher mass of pre-grazing forage with lower percentage of dead material, but with higher forage losses, resulting from senescent leaves. Due to changes in the structural components, as grazing cycles increase, the interception of 95% of the incident light by the perennial peanut occurs at lower heights.

Morphogenetic, physiological, and productive of forage peanut responses to shading

“…Forage peanut growing in full sunlight has a regrowth pattern similar to those of tropical grasses and shows a strong correlation among 95% of canopy light interception, maximum forage accumulation, and increased animal performance (Brunetti et al, 2016;Kröning et al, 2019). However, this grazing management under shade should be better understood, since grazing management and shading directly affect the structural, physiological, and productive characteristics of tropical forage legume (Baligar et al, 2010;Guenni et al, 2018).…”