Animal performance in pastures of pearl millet and sorghum

Abstract

Pearl millet, var. Comum (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke) and sorghum, cv. Sordan NK (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) were evaluated under continuous grazing in an experiment carried out at the Estação Experimental de Guaíba, RS, Brazil. concerning dry matter production, growth rate, carrying capacity, "in vitro" digestibility and live weight gain per animal and per hectare. Two crossbred heifers (Charolais x Zebu and Zebu x Charolais) for each paddock, with 12 to 15 months of age and weighing 190 kg, and some additional "put-and-take" animals to maintain similar forage availability were used, in a randomized block arrangement with three replications. Both forage species were similar in all the parameters cited, but pearl millet did show higher biological value than sorghum. Daily weight gains per animal and per hectare were 0.78 and 479, and 0.71 and 401 kg, respectively, but they did not differ significantly.