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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
To evaluate the possibility of improving hay nutritive value, six hay meadows were studied in the
Northeast of Portugal from 1998 to 2000. The treatments were fertilization rates of O, 75 and 150 kg N/ha/y in
combination with two cutting/grazing regimes: the usual for the area (NG) and a larger spring grazing period with
meadows closed off for hay three weeks later (LG). Their effects on crude protein content, in vitro organic matter
digestibility, and dry-matter, crude protein and metabolizable energy yields were evaluated. The treatments
studied significantly influenced the parameters evaluated. Late spring grazing induced the greatest changes in
the highest yielding meadows (M3 and M5) increasing nutritive values but decreasing the DM yield (-2t DM/ha,
+ 1 % CP and +3% IVOMD). However, the positive influences on CP content and IVOMD are not high enough to
overcome the low values (Iess than 10% CP and 50% IVOMD) observed in meadows with hay growth periods longer than 60-70 days
Description
Keywords
Crude protein Digestibility Dry-matter yield Hay Nitrogen fertilization
Citation
Pires, Jaime; Fernandes, Adelaide; Bernardo, A.; Pires, João; Moreira, Nuno (2005) – Meadow management hay yields and nutritive value in the Mediterranean mountain regions of the Northeast of Portugal. Options Méditerranéennes, Séries A. ISSN 1016-121X. 67, p. 67-73