Increase in Milk Yield from Cows through Improvement of Forage Production Using the N2-Fixing Legume Leucaena leucocephala in a Silvopastoral System
The objective was to evaluate milk production, N2-fixation and N transfer, forage yield and composition (under two cutting intervals) in a silvopastoral system (SPS) with Leucaena leucocephala-Megathyrsus maximus and M. maximus-monoculture (MMM) with crossbred cows in a completely randomized design....
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Published in | Animals (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 4; p. 734 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Basel
MDPI AG
23.04.2020
MDPI |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The objective was to evaluate milk production, N2-fixation and N transfer, forage yield and composition (under two cutting intervals) in a silvopastoral system (SPS) with Leucaena leucocephala-Megathyrsus maximus and M. maximus-monoculture (MMM) with crossbred cows in a completely randomized design. Forage yield in the SPS was 6490 and 6907 kg DM ha−1 for cutting intervals (CI) of 35 and 50 days. Forage yield for the MMM was 7284 and 10,843 kg DM ha−1, and forage crude protein (CP) was 29.0% and 26.1% for L. leucocephala, harvested at 35 and 50 days, respectively. CP for the associated M. maximus was 9.9% and 7.8% for CI 35 and 50 days, respectively, and for MMM was 7.4% and 8.4%, harvested at 35 and 50 days. Milk production was 4.7 kg cow−1 day−1 for cows grazing MMM and 7.4 kg cow−1 day−1 under SPS. Nitrogen fixation in L. leucocephala (%Ndfa) was estimated to be 89% and 95%, at 35 and 50 days, with an N2 transfer to the associated grass of 34.3% and 52.9%. SPS has the potential to fix and transfer important amounts of N2 to the associated grass, and increase forage CP content and milk production. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 2076-2615 2076-2615 |
DOI: | 10.3390/ani10040734 |