Forage mass, botanical composition and stocking density of bermudagrass overseeded with forage legumes

Abstract

Forage mass, botanical composition and stocking density of bermudagrass overseeded with forage legumes 1 Pastures of the genus Cynodon are being cultivated alone in conventional production with high rates of nitrogen fertilizer. Information and research about its use on mixed-pasture system is scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate three grazing systems with coastcross-1 (CC) + 100 kg N ha . The experiment was carried out from May 2013 to April 2014. The sward height, forage mass, botanical composition, leaf:stem ratio, and animal stocking density were evaluated. Experimental design was completely randomized with three treatments (grazing systems) and three replicates (paddocks) in completely split-plot time (grazing cycles). The average stocking rate was 7.0, 6.8, 6.8 cows ha -1 day -1 for the respective forage systems. Better results were found with coastcross-1 mixed with common vetch + 100 kg N ha -1 year -1 in winter and spring and coastcross-1 alone + 200 kg N ha -1 year -1 in autumn.