<b>Dynamic of the botanical composition of the diet selected by cattle grazing on a lowland cultivated pasture</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v28i3.37

Abstract

Three lowland areas located at the Federal University of Santa Maria (Rio Grande do Sul State - Brazil) were cultivated with Lolium multiflorum Lam, and Trifolium repens L. in order to evaluate the animal productivity in an integrated project with rice and cattle-breeding production system. A more specific objective of this paper was to study the dynamics of the botanical composition of the selected diet as affected by treatments: N fertilizer rates associated with energetic supplement. The botanical composition of the diet was determined by microhistological analysis of feces through foliar epidermis differentiation of Lolium multiflorum Lam., Trifolium repens L., Paspalum urvillei Steud., Setaria geniculata (Lam.) Beauv. and Echinochloa spp. during winter, spring and summer, 2000. The diet results were compared through random test. There was a significant effect of sampling times on diet selection (P=0.04), but the treatments did not affect the botanical composition of the selected diet (P=0.91)