Voluntary intake, digestibility and nutrient balance of Creole cows under rational grazing in Valle del Cauto Cuba.

Abstract

In order to determine the voluntary consumption, digestibility and nutritional balance of Cuban Creole cows during the rainy season, without supplementation in a rational grazing system; lactation cows from 10 second, with 410 ± 10 kg of live weight, were used. The system had 52 scrubs of 0.2178 ha each one, covered with Brachiaria humidicola cv. CIAT 679 as predominant pasture, with 92.81% of purity. Two animals groups were used, one pointer. Leading cows were submitted to a grazing intensity of 83 UGM.ha-1.dia-1 and the followers to 160 UGM.ha-1.dia-1, both groups with one stay day in each quarter. Voluntary grazing was determined using the double marker technique, which uses chromic oxide (Cr2O3) as external marker and insoluble acid ash from the pasture as internal marker. The data were analyzed by a simple classification model with 5 repetitions that controlled the animals’ group effect, with the statistical package SPSS, version 22.0. Leading cows dry grass consumption was close to 3% of the live weight and 2.5% in the continuous ones. Dry matter intake and digestibility indices in both groups were related to the chemical composition of the pasture offered. It is concluded that the Criollas cows voluntary consumption was related to the pasture digestibility and the position of the group during grazing. The group consumption continues making corrections to the management system.