Herbage intake, methane emissions and animal performance of steers grazing dwarf elephant grass with or without access to Arachis pintoi pastures

摘要

The inclusion of legumes in diets based on grass has nutritional benefits due to ingestive and digestive interactions (Nidcrkorn and Baumont 2009). Moreover, it is speculated that tropical legumes can contribute to reducing the emission of greenhousegases (GHG) compared to diets exclusively composed of grasses (Archimcde et al. 2011). However, under grazing conditions, these advantages arc not always possible to obtain. This occurs when the spatial distribution of sward grasses impose limitations onaccess to legumes by grazing animals (Solomon et al. 2011). This can be the case, for example, when legumes are overlapped by the leaves of a tufted tall grass, as dwarf elephant grass (Crestani et al. 2013).Considering that management strategics for increasing legumes in the diet of grazing animals should be better studied and data on enteric methane emitted by ruminants eating tropical forages are scarce, the aim of this work was to evaluate the effect ofaccess to an exclusive area of peanuts (Arachis pintoi cv. Amarillo) for cattle grazing dwarf elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. BRS Kurumi) on herbage intake, animal performance and enteric methane emission.