Braga, G.J.; Ramos, A.K.B.; Carvalho, M.A.; Fonseca, C.E.L.; Karia, C.T. Canopy Characteristics of Gamba Grass Cultivars and Their Effects on the Weight Gain of Beef Cattle under Grazing. Agronomy2024, 14, 2293.
Braga, G.J.; Ramos, A.K.B.; Carvalho, M.A.; Fonseca, C.E.L.; Karia, C.T. Canopy Characteristics of Gamba Grass Cultivars and Their Effects on the Weight Gain of Beef Cattle under Grazing. Agronomy 2024, 14, 2293.
Braga, G.J.; Ramos, A.K.B.; Carvalho, M.A.; Fonseca, C.E.L.; Karia, C.T. Canopy Characteristics of Gamba Grass Cultivars and Their Effects on the Weight Gain of Beef Cattle under Grazing. Agronomy2024, 14, 2293.
Braga, G.J.; Ramos, A.K.B.; Carvalho, M.A.; Fonseca, C.E.L.; Karia, C.T. Canopy Characteristics of Gamba Grass Cultivars and Their Effects on the Weight Gain of Beef Cattle under Grazing. Agronomy 2024, 14, 2293.
Abstract
Gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus Kunth) is a tussock-forming forage species adapted to acid soils of Brazilian savannas and cultivated for grazing pastures. Four decades since its releasing, Planaltina prevails as the most commercialized cultivar of the species, even though the new cultivar BRS Sarandi could be a better alternative for Gamba grass-based farms by presenting greater leaf:stem ratio. The objective of this study was to evaluate the average daily live weight gain (ADG) of Nellore bulls (Bos indicus) for two Gamba grass cultivars – Planaltina and Sarandi. The experiment was conducted in Planaltina, Federal District, Brazil, during 3 years, namely 2018, 2018-2019 and 2020. The experimental design was completely randomized block with two treatments and three replicates, each one continuously stocked at three stocking rates (SR) - 1.3, 2.6 and 4 young bulls/ha. Canopy height (CH), forage mass (FM), plant-part proportion (leaf, stem and dead material) and nutritive value were evaluated. In 2018, mean ADG for Sarandi pastures was greater (0.690 kg/bull/d) than Planaltina (0.490 kg/bull/d) (P=0.0839). In the subsequent year (2018-2019), there was no effect of cultivar (P = 0.4089), while in 2020 the ADG was again affected by cultivar (P=0.0412), confirming the advantage of Sarandi (0.790 kg/bull/d) over Planaltina (0.650 kg/bull/d). In 2018 and 2020, the percentage of stems for Sarandi was about 3-6 pp lesser than for Planaltina (P
Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
,
,
