Track 2-2-2: Plant-Animal Interactions, Grazing Behaviour and Plant Quarantine
Description
Native rangelands are essential for Brazilian livestock production in the northeast Caatinga because they are abundant and inexpensive. Greater knowledge of nutritive values of these native plants is a needed because they fit well in prevailing edapho-climatic conditions. The chemical composition of plants, however, may differ according to ontogeny, elevation, soil, climate, plant community and human actions. Caatinga plants usually have high crude protein (CP) although some of this is fiber-bound (Santos et al., 2009). Browse can therefore become a key livestock diet component.
Condensed tannins (CT) in browse can provide benefits, including anthelmintic activity greater amino acid absorption, synthesis of microbiological protein and reduction in methane emission when consumed at 20 to 50 g kg-1 dry matter (DM) (Littlefield et al., 2011; Muir, 2011). Above those levels, animals may suffer negative consequences because of the strong linkage with enzymes, metal ions and carbohydrates although browsers can neutralize CT via salivary proline (Naumann et al., 2013). The objective of this study was to estimate the chemical composition of commonly browsed Caatinga woody species in four forage allowances.
Included in
Chemical Composition of Woody Species at Browsed Caatinga under Different Forage Allowance
Native rangelands are essential for Brazilian livestock production in the northeast Caatinga because they are abundant and inexpensive. Greater knowledge of nutritive values of these native plants is a needed because they fit well in prevailing edapho-climatic conditions. The chemical composition of plants, however, may differ according to ontogeny, elevation, soil, climate, plant community and human actions. Caatinga plants usually have high crude protein (CP) although some of this is fiber-bound (Santos et al., 2009). Browse can therefore become a key livestock diet component.
Condensed tannins (CT) in browse can provide benefits, including anthelmintic activity greater amino acid absorption, synthesis of microbiological protein and reduction in methane emission when consumed at 20 to 50 g kg-1 dry matter (DM) (Littlefield et al., 2011; Muir, 2011). Above those levels, animals may suffer negative consequences because of the strong linkage with enzymes, metal ions and carbohydrates although browsers can neutralize CT via salivary proline (Naumann et al., 2013). The objective of this study was to estimate the chemical composition of commonly browsed Caatinga woody species in four forage allowances.
