Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

Effect of Age of Regrowth and Cutting Height on
Productivity of Cratylia argentea cv. Veraniega in the
Subhumid Tropics of Costa Rica
Marco Lobo and Vidal Acuña
MAG, Costa Rica
Livestock development in the tropics, which is characterized as being
extensive, is based on the use of grasses; however, in farms that are a little
more intensive, as is the case of dual-purpose and semi-specialized dairies,
animal nutrition is complemented with agroindustrial by-products during
the dry season.
More and more, these by-products are not used because of their highly
variable nutritive quality and price. Furthermore, in several of these regions
these by-products must be treated with heat, which affects their nutritive
quality.
Therefore the use of shrub legumes has been studied in recent years to
offer cattle a better source of on-farm feed while reducing feeding costs.
Cratylia argentea is a shrub legume native to the Amazon region and
parts of Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia. It is characterized by its adaptation to a
broad range of soils, mainly well-drained, low-fertility acid soils, and its
capacity for regrowth during the dry season. Its crude protein (CP) content is
high, its in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) is intermediate, and the
consumption of this forage becomes more appealing during the dry season.
This study aims to evaluate the productivity (production and nutritive
value) of C. argentea cv. Veraniega, at two ages of regrowth and three cutting
heights, in Costa Rica’s central Pacific region.
Materials and Methods
At the beginning of the 1996 rainy season, a forage bank of C. argentea
was established on a farm in San Juan Grande de Esparza (250 masl with
annual average precipitation of 2,400 mm and a 6-month dry season).
Distance between plants was 50 cm and distance between rows was 1 m.
The soil was a clay loam Ultisol, with the following characteristics: pH, 5.4;
Ca, 7.2 cmol/L; Mg, 0 2.6 cmol/L; P, 6 mg/L; and 3.1% of OM.
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