Nutritive value of Tanzania grass for dairy cows under rotational grazing

Abstract

-A nutritional analysis of Tanzania grass (Megathyrsus maximus Jacquin cv. Tanzânia was conducted. Pasture was managed in a rotational grazing system with a 30-day resting period, three days of paddock occupation and two grazing cycles. Ten Holstein × Zebu crossbred cows were kept within a 2-ha area divided into 11 paddocks ha -1 . Cows were fed 2 kg of corn meal daily and performance was evaluated by weighing the animals every 14 days and by recording milk production twice a day. Nutritional composition of the Tanzania grass was determined from forage (extrusa) samples collected by esophageal fistulae from two animals. The nutritive value of Tanzania grass was estimated according to a modification of the CNCPS evaluation model. Tanzania grass supplemented with 2 kg of corn meal supplied 33.2% more net energy for lactation than required by the animals to produce 13.7 kg of milk day -1 . Nevertheless, the amount of metabolizable protein met the daily protein requirement of the animals. Although the model used in the study requires adjustments, Tanzania grass has the potential to produce milk in a rotational grazing system.

Performance and metabolite profile of dairy cows fed tropical grasses and concentrates containing crude protein with low or high degradability

“…The use of the CNCPS model to evaluate diets is useful to estimate the nutritive value of different forage resources and other tropical foragebased diets (Cabral et al, 2000;Vieira et al, 2000a,b,c). The dietary synchronization is important for microbial growth and, depending on the availability of non-fibrous carbohydrates, the microbial biomass uses degradable nitrogen more efficiently Malafaia et al, 1998;1999;Vieira et al, 2000c;Favoreto et al, 2008;Fernandes et al, 2014). Because of the nutritional imbalances of sugarcane, e.g., high soluble sugars and low protein content, it should be used with caution to prevent excess nutrient losses (Fernandes et al, 2001).…”

Milk production of crossbred holstein × zebu on different pasture-management strategies

“…There was no variation in fibre digestibility among the evaluated treatments and grazing cycles. The grazing pressure applied to the Tanzania grass modules was likely low, so these animals had a greater opportunity to select the composition of their diets, which promoted the choice of more palatable and nutritive parts (FERNANDES et al, 2014); this gave the diets of cows in both treatments a similar chemical composition.…”