Abstract

CASTRO-RINCON, Edwin et al. Multiple use of legumes as green manure in rotation with corn and hay for milk production. Corpoica cienc. tecnol. agropecu. [online]. 2016, vol.17, n.1, pp.17-29. ISSN 0122-8706.

The dry tropical livestock systems go through dramatic decrease in milk production during the dry season. This can be mitigated by including legumes as green manure in forage crops as silage and hay to feed cows. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate 1) the contribution of legumes to milk production in cows supplemented with Canavalia brasiliensis as hay and 2) the effect of the removal of legume (5 levels between 0-100%) on corn production as forage. A direct relationship between the level of legume biomass removal and reduced maize yield (r = 0.85) was observed. When levels of removal of C. brasiliensis were below 50 %, the forage yield of corn was not affected (MS 11,283 kg ha^-1) compared to non-removal treatment (12,601 kg MS ha^-1) (p > 0.05). At the time of corn harvest, the total nitrogen decreased (15-20 %); NO₃ varied between 8 and 26 mg/kg, with lower levels contained in the removal of 75 to 100%; and 15% organic C increased with the removal of 0, 25 and 50 % legume. Regarding the second experiment, it was found that cows supplemented with hay C. brasiliensis, increased their milk production by 17% with supplementation of 1.5 % LW/day. The compositional quality of milk did not change due to the treatment of hay supplementation of C. brasiliensis.

Keywords : Animal feeding; Production; Milk; Feed crops; Food supplements.

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