Publication Date
1989
Description
Under Brasilian conditions the beef and milk production rely almost exclusively upon the use of natural or cultivated pastures. However, due to the characteristics of the climate with a warm and rainy season and a cool and dry season, the forage growth rate and animal production presents both high and low peaks, resulting in slaughtering age of 4-5 years and a low average milk production (Pedreira, 1973). Improvement of forage production has been one approach for increasing animal production. However, the above measure brings a higher attention to the feeding of the animals in the dry season. Most often, use is made of grains. Lately, due to a high international market price for the subproducts there has been a search for replacement of these feeds. Silages have been used as supplemental feeds for milk and beef production. Corn ( Zea mays) is the most common crop, mainly because of its high nutritive value, drymatter production and good adaptation to the climatic conditions in Brasil. However, its silage is poor in protein and calcium (Coris & Faria, 1973). Consequentely there is a need for supplementing it with a source of protein which lowers the profit. Considering the richness of the legumes in protein and calcium, and the higher drymatter production from grass-legumes associations (Serpa, 1977; Willey & Osirus, 1973 and Alexander & Genter, 1962) the association corn-legumes should result in a more stable production and higher protein content of the silage (Obeid et al., 1985). The sowing of cornlegumes associations facilitates the harvesting procedure for ensiling.
Citation
Obeid, J A. and Cruz, M E., "Corn Crop Grown With and Without Tropical Legumes for Silage Making" (2025). IGC Proceedings (1989-2023). 6.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1989/session8/6
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Corn Crop Grown With and Without Tropical Legumes for Silage Making
Under Brasilian conditions the beef and milk production rely almost exclusively upon the use of natural or cultivated pastures. However, due to the characteristics of the climate with a warm and rainy season and a cool and dry season, the forage growth rate and animal production presents both high and low peaks, resulting in slaughtering age of 4-5 years and a low average milk production (Pedreira, 1973). Improvement of forage production has been one approach for increasing animal production. However, the above measure brings a higher attention to the feeding of the animals in the dry season. Most often, use is made of grains. Lately, due to a high international market price for the subproducts there has been a search for replacement of these feeds. Silages have been used as supplemental feeds for milk and beef production. Corn ( Zea mays) is the most common crop, mainly because of its high nutritive value, drymatter production and good adaptation to the climatic conditions in Brasil. However, its silage is poor in protein and calcium (Coris & Faria, 1973). Consequentely there is a need for supplementing it with a source of protein which lowers the profit. Considering the richness of the legumes in protein and calcium, and the higher drymatter production from grass-legumes associations (Serpa, 1977; Willey & Osirus, 1973 and Alexander & Genter, 1962) the association corn-legumes should result in a more stable production and higher protein content of the silage (Obeid et al., 1985). The sowing of cornlegumes associations facilitates the harvesting procedure for ensiling.
