Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar
Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar
Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar
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Evaluation of Cratylia argentea as Substitute of<br />
Chicken Manure in Diets for Cows Grazing<br />
Hyparrhenia rufa Pastures<br />
M. Ibrahim, M. Franco, D. Pezo, A. Camero and J. Araya<br />
CATIE and MAG, Costa Rica<br />
The production and quality of forage biomass from grasses is drastically<br />
reduced in ecosystems <strong>with</strong> prolonged droughts, such as the Central Pacific<br />
region of Costa Rica. Producers solve this limitation by supplementing <strong>with</strong><br />
agricultural by-products, such as chicken manure. Several years ago this<br />
by-product was inexpensive but its price in real terms has increased in view<br />
of the growing demand. Producers are therefore interested in evaluating<br />
alternatives <strong>to</strong> replace chicken manure. The results of three on-farm trials<br />
are reported: two trials evaluated the substitution of chicken manure <strong>with</strong><br />
Cratylia argentea and the other trial evaluated Cratylia fed fresh or as silage.<br />
Materials and Methods<br />
Experiment 1. This trial was conducted during the dry season (April<br />
1999) on a small farm in Miramar, located at 250 masl in the Central Pacific<br />
region of Costa Rica. The mean annual temperature is 28 °C and the mean<br />
precipitation, 2,400 mm. The following treatments were evaluated: T1,<br />
control, only grazing (naturalized grass and jaragua grass); T2, 12 kg<br />
sugarcane + 8 kg C. argentea + 0.6 kg rice polishing + grazing; and T3, 12<br />
kg sugarcane + 3 kg chicken manure + 0.6 rice polishing + grazing. Cows in<br />
T2 and T3 received molasses.<br />
The nutritional characteristics of the feed were as follows: sugarcane,<br />
2% CP and 3.0 Mcal ME; chicken manure, 19.5% CP and 1.8 Mcal ME; rice<br />
polishing, 12% CP and 3.0 Mcal ME; fresh Cratylia, 20% CP and 1.8 Mcal<br />
ME (from 90-day regrowth cut at 30 cm); and Cratylia silage, 16.4% CP and<br />
1.9 Mcal ME (from 180-day regrowth cut at 30 cm).<br />
A Latin square design <strong>with</strong> three treatments was used, each treatment<br />
<strong>with</strong> two selected cows in the second month of lactation. The experiment<br />
lasted for 30 days, and animals were rotated through each treatment at<br />
10-day intervals (7 days for adjustment and 3 for data collection).<br />
Experiment 2. This trial was conducted in a small farm in Barranca,<br />
located at 280 masl in the Central Pacific region of Costa Rica. The mean<br />
annual temperature is 28 °C and mean precipitation of 2,500 mm.<br />
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