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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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