Feeding leucaena to dairy cows in intensive silvopastoral systems in Colombia and Mexico

Abstract

Keynote paper presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.The demand for milk and dairy products globally is expected to grow in future decades, leading to an increase in the global dairy cattle population. Therefore it is important to identify production options that both improve efficiency and help reduce negative effects on the environment. Intensive silvopastoral systems have been proposed as a sustainable strategy in the tropics to increase the availability and quality of forage throughout the year for milk production from cattle. This paper reports the effects of silvopastoral systems that include leucaena at the farm level on milk production and on the environment in both Colombia and Mexico. Evaluation of different milk production systems has shown that the leucaena-based systems increased milk production both per cow and per hectare, increased the production of milk solids, improved the fatty acid profile in the milk and resulted in environmental benefits when compared with conventional systems.

Feeding Strategies to Increase Nitrogen Retention and Improve Rumen Fermentation and Rumen Microbial Population in Beef Steers Fed with Tropical Forages

“…The inclusion level reached in the T. diversifolia diet was 32.7%, while the L. leucocephala reached an 18.4% inclusion level. These results are consistent with other studies that have reported levels of inclusion of T. diversifolia between 15% and 35% in grazing of lactating cows, without altering the animals' voluntary intake [10,13]. The NDF and ADF values reported in this study for T. diversifolia are below those reported in other studies [44] (NDF: 53%; ADF: 48.18%) and above those reported by other investigations [45] (NDF: 33.35% and ADF: 12.21%) for similar regrowth ages (56 and 60 days), and establishment of the shrubby cuttings.…”

“…The inclusion level reached in the T. diversifolia diet was 32.7%, while the L. leucocephala reached an 18.4% inclusion level. These results are consistent with other studies that have reported levels of inclusion of T. diversifolia between 15% and 35% in grazing of lactating cows, without altering the animals' voluntary intake [10,13]. The NDF and ADF The protozoa population was different in each sampling period, where in all diets there was an increase on the last time point (day 15) of measurement.…”

“…Leucaena leucocephala (L. leucocephala) is a forage tree widely studied and is considered to be a high nutritional value forage legume that contains high levels of CP, favors dry matter degradation, and yields high amounts of biomass when grown in appropriate soils [9,10]. When sown in rows associated with tropical grasses, it constitutes a profitable and sustainable productive system [11,12].…”

Nutritional Quality, Voluntary Intake and Enteric Methane Emissions of Diets Based on Novel Cayman Grass and Its Associations With Two Leucaena Shrub Legumes

“…There are several reports on the nutritional and productivity benefits of including L. leucocephala in the diet of grazing beef and dairy cattle (51)(52)(53)(54)(55). However, the current study is the first to report the benefits of including L. diversifolia in the diet of grazing cattle in Latin America.…”

Apparent Nitrogen Recovery in Milk and Early Dry Season Nitrous Oxide Emission Factors for Urine Deposited by Dual-Purpose Cattle on Different Soil Types

“…However, information on greenhouse gas emissions in urine patches and bovine manure associated with this pasture is scant. Several studies have demonstrated the potential of M. maximus to increase dry matter consumption and increase animal productivity (Mahecha et al, 2007;Suárez et al, 2011;Gaviria et al, 2012;Rivera et al, 2019b). However, M. maximus is produced optimally under rotational compared to continuous grazing as, under the latter, the levels of insoluble fiber (lignin) can dramatically increase.…”