The Role of Forage and Grasslands in Ruminant Nutrition and Sustainable Development

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Grassland and Pasture Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 1337

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of BioEconomy—National Research Council of Italy (IBE-CNR), 10 Via Madonna del Piano, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Interests: rearing systems; forage systems; agricultural byproducts; climate change impact and mitigation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural areas used for fodder production, including grassland, are essential for feeding ruminants; moreover, they serve as an important global reservoir of biodiversity and provide a wide range of material and non-material benefits to humans. Forage and grassland resources can make critical contributions to mitigating climate change and helping humans adapt to it. There is a need to summarize and update research-based information on all aspects of sustainable forage and grasslands in ruminant nutrition. This Special Issue seeks to gather current research addressing the components of linking forage and grasslands and their contribution in animal nutrition as a useful tool to contribute to sustainable development. Contributions are sought covering: i) economic (towards protein and energy self-sufficiency in livestock, feeding zero concentrate to ruminants, advances in forage conservation, pasture and forage potential in ruminant nutrition, selected species and underutilized crops for livestock feed); ii) social (synergies between ecosystem services, grassland and forage systems productions; the role of grassland for the community); and iii) environmental (soil carbon sequestration potential of grasslands, innovative management in the context of climate change, environmental influences on grassland systems, grassland for sustainable ruminant production).

Dr. Aldo Dal Prà
Dr. Domenico Ronga
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • grass–livestock interaction
  • sustainable development
  • ruminants’ nutrition
  • forage (dried, silage and fresh)

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

10 pages, 581 KiB  
Article
Buffel Grass (Pennisetum ciliare) Ecotypes Suitable for Subtropical Livestock in the North Central Region of Mexico
by Ricardo Alonso Sánchez-Gutiérrez, Héctor Gutiérrez-Bañuelos, Alan Álvarez-Holguín, Edith Ramírez-Segura, Alberto Muro-Reyes, Luis Cuauhtémoc Muñoz-Salas, Daniel García-Cervantes and Francisco Guadalupe Echavarría-Cháirez
Agronomy 2024, 14(6), 1224; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14061224 - 5 Jun 2024
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Abstract
The objective was to determine the forage production and nutritional quality of six buffel grass ecotypes in vegetative and physiological maturity stages. The experiment was carried out at the Los Cañones Experimental Station in Zacatecas, Mexico. The ecotypes were as follows: E-42, E-45, [...] Read more.
The objective was to determine the forage production and nutritional quality of six buffel grass ecotypes in vegetative and physiological maturity stages. The experiment was carried out at the Los Cañones Experimental Station in Zacatecas, Mexico. The ecotypes were as follows: E-42, E-45, E-66, E-72, E-S245, and the Titan variety as a control. The experiment design was a completely randomized block with three replications, and the evaluation years were from 2020 to 2022. The variables measured were as follows: plant height (PH), dry matter yield (DMY), leaf (Lf) and stem-inflorescence (St), crude protein (CP), neutral (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF). Pearson’s correlation and a combined analysis of variance were performed for each growth stage. A correlation analysis showed significant relationships (p < 0.05) between variables. In the vegetative stage, ecotypes E-42, E-45, and E-S45 showed accumulations of over 12% of CP, which were higher (p < 0.05) than the ones for Titan. Low values of E-S245 (p < 0.05) for NDF (63.44%) and ADF (44.49%) stood out among all ecotypes. In the maturity stage, Titan was surpassed by E-45 and E-S245 with CP higher than 4%. The neutral and acid fibers in E-42, E-45, and E-S245 were less than in Titan (p < 0.05). Ecotypes E-42 and E-S245 are alternatives to improve feed efficiency in the dry subtropical climate of Zacatecas. Full article
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