Nutritional quality of Piptocoma discolor and Cratylia argentea as a non-timber forest products for animal feed in the Caquetá province

From Firenze University Press Journal: Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development (JAEID)

Faver Álvarez Carrillo, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de la Amazonia

Fernando Casanoves, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza

Yolanda Cuellar Medina, Universidad de la Amazonia

Jhoyner Felipe Ortiz Meneses, Universidad de la Amazonia, Facultad de Ciencias agropecuarias, Programa de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia

Victor Julio Balanta Martinez, Facultad de Ciencias Contables, Económicas y Administrativas , Universidad de la Amazonia

Gustavo Adolfo Celis Parra, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de la Amazonia

Cattle ranching is one of the main economic activities in the Amazon region, where feeding models based on grazingare commonly found, as the area covered by cultivated pastures exceeds 90 million hectares (Silva et al., 2017),with pastures being the main land use after forest in the Amazon biome.The introduction of grasses such as Andropogongayanus, Brachiariadecumbens, Panicummaximum, Pennisetumclandestinumand Hyparrheniarufaare the common denominator and are less frequently associated with legumes such as Desmodiumovalifolium, Leucaena leucocephala, Arachispintoiand Centrosemamacrocarpum(Neto et al., 2012; Townsend et al., 2010). La Cratylia argenteais a forage shrub used as a feed alternative in livestock production systems in the tropics(Herrera & Arguedas, 2016), due to its ability to establish on low-fertility acid soils, rapid regrowth, easy propagation and drought resistance (Hess et al., 2006).Piptocoma discoloris a native American species that predominates in secondary forest (González et al., 2018), is characterised by being consumed by cattle in paddocks (Guayara, 2010)and by having rapid growth despite being in degraded soils (Hurtado & Suárez, 2013).

The main feed source in livestock production systems are cultivated pastures, mainly of the genus Brachiariadecumbens, reporting the presence of up to nine species of this genus(Londoño et al., 2022), which are mainly characterized by having low biomass and low nutritional quality, because of the interaction with low fertility soils(do Nascimento et al., 2018).Nutritional problems resultingfrom the dependence on grazing systems are one of the main causes of economic losses for producers (Edson et al., 2018), sincethese depend on climateincidences, given that in the Amazon the critical seasons can extend up to 6 months. This generates a decrease in forage supply and quality, given that the grasses implemented are characterized by low protein content, low digestibility percentage and highfiber content (Reyes et al., 2006).In addition, the nutritional stress generated due to the energy and protein deficit provided by pastures (Madzimure et al., 2011; Mwendia et al., 2018), forces the animal to mobilize its body reserves for milk synthesis (Reyes et al., 2006), generating a decrease in productive and reproductive parameters, limiting the productive potential of livestock systems (Mwendia et al., 2018).To mitigate the adverse effects of nutritional deficiencies in forage species implemented in the Amazon region, the paradigm of implementing new promising species in livestock systems has been proposed.

The main strategy that has been proposed is supplementation with native species to the region that provide a higher percentage of nutrients to cattle to improve their productive and reproductive performance (Riascos et al., 2020). For this reason, the incorporation of native trees and shrubs with high forage nutritional quality (Jose & Dollinger, 2019)is fundamental for the productive rehabilitation of livestock systems (Murgueitio et al., 2011). However, tree species have a highly variable nutritionalquality, therefore, the use of perennial woody species in bovine nutrition for the improvement of production parameters in bovine systems requires the determination of the forage quality of forest resources available in each region and considering the need to use alternative sources for animal feeding in the conditions of the humid tropics (Riascos et al., 2020).

The objective of this study is to determine the nutritional quality of P. discolorand C. argenteaas non-timber forest products for animal feed in the Amazon region where Brachiariasp. grasses predominate in the pastures.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/jaeid-13102

Read Full Text: https://www.jaeid.it/index.php/jaeid/article/view/13102