Animal performance and nutritional characteristics of Piatã-grass in integrated systems

ABSTRACT The objective was to evaluate animal performance and nutritional characteristics of Brachiaria brizantha cv. BRS Piatã in two integrated systems, during the summer and winter, five years after the initial establishment of the area. The randomized block experimental design was adopted with treatments consisting of a control (five native trees per hectare) and an integrated crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) system with 227 eucalyptus trees per hectare. Animal performance, canopy height, soil cover, forage mass (leaf, stem and senescent material), and forage nutritive value were evaluated. Differences between systems were observed in forage mass (total, leaf, stem and senescent material), soil cover and forage nutritive value in both seasons. Shading conditions provided by eucalyptus in the ICLF system lead to a reduction in forage mass and neutral detergent fiber content, and to an increase in crude protein and in vitro organic matter digestibility. However, no effect on animal performance was obtained. The presence of trees improves the forage nutritive value without impacting animal performance in integrated systems.