Publicación:

Caracterización de las fibras en pastos; estrella africana (cynodon nlemfuensis vanderyst , brachiaria (urochloa decumbens(stapf)r. D. Webster) y pasto elefante (pennisetum purpureum schum) y su efecto en la ganacia de peso en bovinos destetos

Resumen

Tropic conditions and their influence on plant productivity negatively affect animal production parameters, reducing the digestibility and quality of tropical pastures. The present study evaluated and characterized the nutritional content of grasses in terms of dry matter (DM), crude fiber (FC) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contained in African star grasses (Cynodon nlemfuensis Vanderyst) EA, brachiaria ( Urochloa decumbens (Stapf) rd Webster) B and elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum) PE. The pastures were initially analyzed using the procedure approved by the Association of Official Analyical Chemist (AOAC) under the protocols of standardized procedures in the animal nutrition laboratory (annexes No. 1-3) of the Cooperative University of Colombia. In addition, the pastures were used in the application of two treatments to randomly distributed weaning cattle, grazing cattle (T1) and stabled cattle (T2) and the weight gain at 30, 60 and 90 days was determined, as well as the percentage gain at 90 days. The results obtained for the pastures under study were: African star, MS - FC - FDN (34% - 29.5% - 64.9%) brachiaria, MS - FC - FDN (32.5% - 25.3% - 65.5%) and elephant, MS - FC - FDN (21.5% - 37.4% - 61.6%). Significant differences (p <0.05) were obtained in the DM, FC of the African star grasses and brachiaria compared with elephant grass. The weight gains obtained for T1 and T2 at 90 days were 18.8 Kg and 5.8 Kg respectively, finding a significant difference (p <0.05); Likewise, a significant difference was found (p <0.05) in the percentage weight gain at 90 days between T1 and T2, it was 11.8% and 3.5% respectively. In general, the weight gain and percentage weight gain of T1 at 90 days was higher when they were fed with grasses that had HR percentages between 25.5% - 29.5%, significantly lower than those of T2 FC 37.4% , being able to identify the African star and bachiaria as pastures with better nutritional conditions for the studied group, providing analytical elements to prefer and recommend them in the region.