Abstract

QUERO CARRILLO, Adrián Raymundo; ENRIQUEZ QUIROZ, Javier Francisco  and  MIRANDA JIMENEZ, Leonor. FORAGE SPECIES EVALUATION IN TROPICAL AMERICA, ADVANCEMENT OR STATUS QUO. INCI [online]. 2007, vol.32, n.8, pp.566-571. ISSN 0378-1844.

Extensive grazing animal production is an important activity and greatly influences tropical and arid ecosystems; besides being an ancient human productive activity its persistence is ensured in the future as a result of market behavior. Hence, this activity must be developed under productive and ecological efficient schemes, promoting both ecological health and improvement of grazing areas. Traditionally, forage resources in Mexico and Latin America have lacked efficient utilization schemes. For cattlemen, grazing forages become fashionable when faced with the need for prairie or rangeland improvement, with poor knowledge about the chosen species attributes, its origin or pedigree. This has led to dependence on imports of forage varieties and species, generating both monetary and human resources expenses. The importance of revaluating the use of forage species genetic resources with sound impact for the region is pointed out and, together with better grazing practices and technology, it constitutes the short term-low cost alternative to stimulate the productivity and stability of the grazing industry, preserving or even improving the ecosystem. Advances such as genetic resource collection, reproductive systems and their management, and molecular marker techniques, among others, offer opportunities to increase the grazing industry productivity and the ecological sustainability, reducing the pressure on non-disturbed areas. The challenge is to review current forage research and methodologies, and to improve the systematic evaluation of relevant and useful forage species that remain genetically unaltered.

Keywords : Alternativas de Pastoreo; Filosofía del Pastoreo; Pastoreo Extensivo Tropical; Recursos Forrajeros.