Animal performance in mixtures of temperate forage species

Abstract

The pasture mixtures of oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.) - Italian ryegrass (Lolium muiltiflorum Lam.) - arrowleaf clover cv. Yuchi (Trifolium vesiculosum Savi); Italian ryegrass – arrowleaf clover and Italian ryegrass - white clover cv. Yi (Trifolium repens L.) - birdsfoot trefoil Cv, São Gabriel (Lotus corniculatus L.) were evaluated in a grazing trial at the Estação Experimental Agronômica, UFRGS, Guaiba, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, concerning average daily liveweight gain, liveweight gain per hectare, changes in the botanical composition, crude protein content and in vitro organic matter digestibility. The Italian ryegrass - white clover birdsfoot trefoil and Italian ryegrass – arrowleaf clover mixture promoted daily liveweight gains of 1.018 kg and 0.883 kg, respectively, much higher than the Q705 kg value of the oat - Italian ryegrass - arrowleaf clover mixture (P <0.05). The liveweight gains per hectare for the three pasture mixtures were 531, 602 and 495 kg.ha^-1, respectively. The crude protein content and in vitro organic matter digestibility, in two of these mixtures, were high enough to justify the above average animal performance.