“…Malafaia et al (1998), working with this forage plant, and Lira et al (2006), with Urochloa decumbens in the dry season, found 230 and 199 g RD(B 2 ) kg -1 DM, which are much lower values than the average observed in the current study (290 g RD(B 2 ) kg -1 DM) for the same season of the year. However, in natural-grassland conditions, in the dry season, Vieira et al (2000b) found a higher value, 301 g kg -1 DM. However, the average observed in our experiment (348 g RD (B 2 ) kg -1 DM) was higher than the almost 230-350 g kg -1 DM observed in the literature (Malafaia et al, 1998;Vieira et al, 2000b;Lira et al, 2006).…”