Comportamento ingestivo diurno de novilhas de corte recebendo níveis de suplemento

Abstract

IDiurnal ingestive behavior of beef heifers receiving levels of supplement RESUMO Este trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar a composição botânica da pastagem e o comportamento ingestivo diurno de bezerras de corte recebendo INTRODUÇÃOPlantas forrageiras são adaptadas ao pastejo e os animais as consomem de forma seletiva, dando preferência por partes tenras e mais nutritivas, em detrimento do material estrutural e senescente. O estudo da distribuição espacial e temporal dos componentes botânicos da pastagem visa a compreender o comportamento das forrageiras dentro de seu ciclo de produção e, conseqüentemente, a resposta animal diante da quantidade e qualidade da forragem que é ofertada.As massas de folhas e colmos são os principais componentes da massa de forragem, bem como da oferta de forragem e, quando presentes em quantidades adequadas, asseguram aos animais em pastejo uma boa capacidade de seleção, apreensão, consumo e, conseqüentemente, bom desempenho animal (ROSO et al., 2003).Há vários fatores que podem interferir nas atividades diárias dos animais em pastejo, como

Ingestive behavior and displacement patterns of beef heifers on Italian ryegrass pasture

“…Leaf blade on offer (P=0.0386) and leaf:stem ratio (P<0.0001) were lower in the last period due to reproductive stage of ryegrass. Macari et al (2007) observed, on oats and Italian ryegrass, leaf blade on offer values between 3.6 and 4.7 kg of live weight. Silva et al (2005) reported no difference on performance of steers grazing ryegrass managed under leaf biomass between 350 and 600 kg/ha of DM.…”

“…The grazing time was lower for supplemented heifers in the first and third assessments. It has been suggested that grazing time decreases for supplemented heifers on oats and ryegrass pasture (Bremm et al, 2005;Macari et al, 2007). Also, in the first assessment there was no difference for rumination time between supplemented heifers and those exclusively on pasture.…”

“…Increased levels of supplement for beef heifers causes a decrease in grazing time and an increase in idle time. Rumination time remains the same, conditioning different bite rates during the grass biological cycle (Macari et al, 2007).…”

Behavior pattern of beef heifers supplemented with different energy sources on oat and ryegrass pasture

“…Therefore, the use of temperate climate annual pastures such as oat and ryegrass, which are known for their productive and chemical quality potential, is very important. Because the objective of any system is to achieve the maximum productive potential, the knowledge of cattle behavior factors may help in the management and decision making in pasture based production systems, especially to understand the control of intake by the animals (Macari et al, 2007). For Gontijo Neto et al (2006), achieving high gains per animal depends on optimization of forage intake, which is influenced, in pasture situations, by multiple factors, which are grouped according to the environment, animal and pasture.…”

“…Knowledge of pasture process mechanisms is also important to understanding the control of animal intake (Macari et al, 2007). Information of animal behavior and its location can be used to set sites and environments to be used by the animals and balance them in function of their needs (Carvalho et al, 2009).…”