The objective of this work was to evaluate the dynamic and animal performance in two pasture-based systems (PS), with elephantgrass (EG) + ryegrass (RG) + white clover (WC) + spontaneous growing species (SGS) for PS1; and EG + RG + forage peanut (FP) + SGS for PS2. Four paddocks, each one with 0.25 ha, were used in the evaluation. EG was established in lines with a distance of 4 m between each one of them. The experimental design was randomized blocks with two replicates (paddocks). Pastures were fertilized with 50-40-40kg/ha of N-P-K, respectively. Nine grazing cycles were performed during the experimental period (326 days in PS1 and 336 in PS2). Holstein cows receiving 3.5 kg/daily complementary concentrate feed were used in the evaluation. Pregraze samples representing the average paddock herbage mass were collected. The mean values of dry matter for pregraze herbage mass, EG leaf lamina and legumes were 3.76, 0.85 and 0.26 t/ha in PS1 and 4.60; 0.99 and 0.19 t/ha in PS2, respectively. Considering the hibernal and estival periods, the average values of carrying capacity were 2.22 and 2.29 and 3.14 and 3.01 UA/ha for PS1 and PS2, respectively. Similar results were observed for the pasture systems. The use of ryegrass, legumes and the spontaneous growing species allowed the forage mass to be uniform during the grazing at these EG-based systems. The results suggest that EG could be used under the mixed pastures proposed.
Arachis pintoi; mixed pastures; Pennisetum purpureum; Trifolium repens
