Abstract

PEROZO-BRAVO, A; GONZALEZ, B  and  ORTEGA-ALCALA, J. Effect of grazing pressure and strategic supplementation on tannergrass (Brachiaria arrecta) on dry matter composition before and after grazing time. Rev. Fac. Agron. [online]. 2009, vol.26, n.1, pp.39-58. ISSN 0378-7818.

The objective of this research was to determine the effect of grazing pressure and strategic supplementation on tanner grass (Brachiaria arrecta) dry matter composition before and after grazing time. The experimental design used was a random completely factorial 2², with two levels of grazing pressure (GP): high (HG):20 and low (LG):14.29 kg live weight (LW).kg (dry matter) DM^-1.day (d)^-1 and two levels of strategic supplementation (SS): no supplementation (NS): 0 and with supplementation (S): 0.5 kg DM.100 kg LW^-1.d^-1. The supplement contained palm kernel meal (65%), poultry litter (25%), minerals (5%) and molasses (5%). Leaves, stems and dead material proportion with respect to the total biomass of tanner grass (LPB, SPB, DeMPB, LPA, SPA and DeMPA) and leaf:stem relationship (LSRB and LSRA) it was measured before and after grazing time. The GP affected in a significant way (P<0.05) the LPB, LSRB, LSRA, and (P<0.01) the LPA. The SS affected (P<0.01) the LPA and (P<0.05) the DeMPA and LSRA. The interaction GP x SS affected in a significant way (P<0.01) the DeMPA. The high grazing pressure was the sufficiently severe to promote a contribution of leaves and a better leaf:stem relationship respect to the low grazing pressure treatment.

Keywords : Grazing pressure; strategic supplementation; put and take; Brachiaria arrecta.