Desempenho de novilhas em pastos de Azevém e Centeio

Abstract

The objective was to verify the differences in the production of the plants and consequent result in the animal production between the three different genotypes of ryegrass and one of rye. The experimental period was from April 24 to October 20, 2017. The animals were kept in the pastures in continuous stocking system with variable load. Thirty-six heifers were tes-ted, distributed three times in each experimental unit, with mean age of seven months and mean initial live weight of 230 kg ± 60 kg. The experimental design was a randomized block design, consisting of four treatments and three replicates. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and the means were compared by the Tukey test at 5%. The mean values of the studied variables of both pasture and animal production differed significantly, averaging 19 cm of height, 28% of leaf mass, 15% of protein, 78.2 kg DM ha-1 of accumulation rate, 8.4 kg MS 100 kg of forage supply PV, 3.151 kg DM ha-1 dry mass, 1.538 kg PV ha-1 animal load, 0.9 kg animal-1 day -1 average daily gain, 528 kg ha-1 of gain per hectare, 102 days of cycle and 2.049 kg DM ha-1 of post-grazing residue. The best results were obtained in BAR jumbo and BAR HQ ryegrass cultivars, while early rye showed intermediate results when compared to common ryegrass and two tetraploids.