Forage intake and performance of heifers fed rice bran on Alexandergrass pasture

Abstract

The study was carried out to evaluate the forage intake and performance of beef heifers from 15 to 18 months of age, grazing on Alexandergrass (Urochloaplantaginea (Link) Hitch) fed rice bran (RB; 0, 0.5 and 1.0% body weight (BW)). The experiment consisted of a completely randomized design with repeated measurement arrangement. Rice bran increased the total dry matter (DM) intake, total crude protein intake and total digestible nutrients intake. Heifers that received 1.0% BW of RB reduced forage DM intake, increasing by 18% stocking rate (SR) and by 27% BW gain per area in comparison with the system exclusively on pasture. In the system in which the heifers were fed 0.5% BW of RB, SR and gain per area were similar to other systems. In this feeding system, we observed average daily gain 18% higher than when heifers were exclusively on pasture and gain similar to that observed when using 1.0% BW of RB. In Alexandergrass pasture it is recommended to supply 0.5% BW of RB for beef heifers from 15 to 18 months of age, to promote better productive responses compared to heifers exclusively on pasture and similar to those observed when supplying 1.0% BW of RB.

Nitrogen nutrition index and morphogenesis in Alexandergrass of the Central Depression of Rio Grande do Sul

“…The species presents itself spontaneously and, due to its tillering potential, forage accumulation (RESTLE et al, 2002;SARTOR et al, 2011;COSTA et al, 2011) and good adaptation to the soil and climate conditions of the southern region (BERGOLI et al, 2019) has been used as forage in pastoral systems (SOARES et al, 2020). Alexandergrass allows the adequate conversion into animal product, enabling the mating of beef heifers from 15 months of age (COSTA et al, 2011;ELOY et al, 2014, SALVADOR et al, 2014, average daily gain above 0.6 kg animal -1 day -1 in beef heifers (COSTA et al, 2011;SALVADOR et al, 2014;NEGRINI et al, 2018) and stocking rate of 1.600 to 2.400 kg ha -1 of body weight (RESTLE et al, 2002;NEGRINI et al, 2018).…”

Grazing height targets for Alexandergrass pastures under continuous stocking in integrated crop-livestock system

“…In areas devoted to integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS), it can be a low-cost forage alternative, since it presents high levels of herbage production and is available in large quantities at the end of the summer cropping season (ADAMI et al, 2010). Therefore, Alexandergrass could be used as pasture (NEGRINI et al, 2018), cover crop biomass (BOLLINGER et al, 2006) or stockpiled forage (SILVA et al, 2011), being an interesting alternative for crop rotation planning.…”