Dear readers, this week I had the opportunity to visit a livestock Production unit accompanied by some students to determine the existing grass varieties. Therefore, to enter into the matter it is necessary to define what is meant by grass; making the inference that a grassland is a population of herbaceous plants that are found in various strata above the soil surface, characterized by their growth habit and relatively continuous soil cover, a pasture is also defined as an area of forage mass, usually delimited by a fence, considered as a functional grazing unit. An efficient animal production is the result of the genetic characteristics of the animal, the aspects of the animal management system and the nutritional characteristics of the pasture.
In relation to the above, the management of pastures is an important activity in animal production, its study requires the revision of basic aspects and / or definitions where agronomic and zootechnical aspects of origin intervene to better understand the process through which the animal uses the plant. These plants are the food source of ruminants, therefore, pastures and forages become an important resource that must be valued by the farmer and carry out practices that allow understanding all aspects related to the plant (growth habit, biomass production), agronomic management (fertilization, pest and disease control, reseeding among others) and zootechnical management (rest days and occupation of the forage surface), adding all these aspects we can guarantee adequate quality plant biomass.
In the management of grazing it is clear that within its elements the animal load, the management policies of said load that best suits the objectives of the production unit (seasonalization of production, association of species and / or vegetables, the grazing method and of course the methods of forage conservation) should be considered. In itself the essence of proper grazing management is to find the effective balance between the efficiency of the growth phases of the pasture, its consumption and animal production.
According to the above, below are data concerning the forage species of the monte Bello production unit that has an area of 33 hectares.
Species of grasses found on the surface intended for grazing
- Star grass (Cynodon plectostachyus): This species has adapted to medium to high fertility soils with poor to regular drainage and rainfed conditions showing better behavior in grazing than in cutting, depopulating with the latter when it is very frequent and with low cutting height.
Guinea (Megathyrsus maximus): it is a rhizomatous perennial grass, of the family of the poaceae; tall, develops mainly in isolated flower beds, which can reach up to 3 m in height. The inflorescence is an open panicle with lateral branching.
Mombasa: it is a tropical graminea cultivar of the Megathyrsus maximus with very similar characteristics to the Tanzania cultivar, both in nutritional quality and in forage production.
Gordura (Melinis minutiflora): it is a perennial herb of the genus Melinis. M. minutiflora is native to Africa, has erect stems up to 1.5 meters high, has a good abundant presence of leaves and the inflorescence of reddish color, in the form of a panicle.
Tanner (Brachiaria arrecta): it is a stoloniferous, aggressive perennial species, it is common to find it in flooded and swampy areas, it has oblong (lanceolate) leaves, measuring 15 cm long and 14 mm wide, with hairs at the nodes, stems that take root at the lowest nodes.
Dear readers, it can be evidenced that in the forage areas of the Colón Municipality of the state of Zulia Venezuela you can find a great diversity of species that make up an ecosystem that is intended for bovine feeding, at the time of the visit the pasture coverage was approximately 80 %, the producer provides you with 36 days of rest but it is important to carry out a sampling to determine the yield of green matter to evaluate the biomass production and the nutritional content in a certain time to establish the rest days more accurately.
González, B. (2005). Production of pasture for grazing. In Alexander Bermúdez, Alirio García and Lidio Parra (Eds.). Pasture. Maracaibo, Venezuela: Astro Data.
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