Silvopastoral system in subtropical Brazil keeps forage cover stable and prevent weed outbreaks

Munaro, Mariana; Barroso, Arthur Arrobas Martins; Dominschek, R.; Roncatto, Eduardo; Michelon, Thomas Bruno; Schuster, Maurício Zanovello

doi:10.1007/s10457-023-00841-3

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 37 publications

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“…Several advantages have been documented concerning the adoption of SPS in comparison to extensive grazing systems based on forage monocultures, emerging as a promising strategy to mitigate the environmental impact of livestock farming and enhance the resilience of tropical pasture systems towards climate uctuations. These bene ts include improvements in soil physical, chemical, and biological properties (Santos et al 2022), soil organic carbon storage (Resende et al 2020; Filho et al 2024), as well as similar total forage accumulation and greater nutritive value (Gomes et al 2022;Brunetti et al 2022), protein supply during the dry season (Ovani et al 2023), weed reduction (Munaro et al 2023), shaded pasture for animals (Reis et al 2021), promotion of animal welfare (Cândido et al 2023), improved animal performance (Oliveira et al 2022), greenhouse gas emission mitigation (Monteiro et al 2024) and, consequently, provision of ecosystem services (Schmitt Filho et al 2023). These bene ts depend on the characteristics or application of each chosen tree or shrub resource.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the impacts of intensity and harvest frequency on Tithonia diversifolia for use in tropical silvopastoral systems

Ovani,

Pérez-Márquez,

Monteiro

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray has significant potential as a forage source in silvopastoral systems, particularly in tropical conditions. However, its intensity and frequency management differ from those commonly applied to grasses. This study aims to evaluate T. diversifolia under two harvest intensities (30 and 40 cm stubble height) and four harvest frequencies (21, 28, 35, and 42 days), aligning with Brazil’s traditional tropical grass management practices. Biomass production and nutritive value of forage, as well as in vitro rumen fermentation parameters were assessed. We observed that the tested harvest intensities have a limited impact on the biomass production and nutritional value of T. diversifolia. Despite the linear increase in biomass production, lower harvest frequencies (i.e., longer regrowth period) significantly affects nutritional value, impacting the products of ruminal fermentation, as indicated by the in vitro assay. The methane production per gram of degraded organic matter (OM) and the OM allocated for microbial biomass production are affected by the harvest frequencies. Additionally, we observed that rainfall and canopy height have stronger correlation with biomass production than harvest frequencies controlled by days. We conclude that T. diversifolia is minimally affected by harvest intensities and, for Brazilian edaphoclimatic conditions, it can be harvested with higher frequencies than those suggested for other regions.

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