Diagnosis of the use of forage conservation in agroecosystems

10 months ago (Edited)

In the previous articles we describe the history of forage conservation in Venezuela and its importance in livestock ecosystems for the feeding of ruminants, based on what was reflected in those articles, the need arose to diagnose whether some production units located in the southern area of Lake Maracaibo implement such a food strategy to meet the food needs of ruminants in critical times where the yield of forage biomass decreases.

To carry out the field study, the population under study was comprised of 80 production units intended for the exploitation of bovine livestock, with areas in a range of 10 to 250 usable hectares, located in the La conquista Sector of the San Carlos Parish, Colon Municipality of the State of Zulia. The sample was represented by 66 farms, assuming a confidence level of 95% and a maximum error of 5%, the sample size was calculated with the Stats program and an instrument was applied to which a content validity was performed with value judgments by experts, a written survey was adopted as a technique, where a questionnaire with dichotomous and multicotomous closed answers was used as an instrument to evaluate the variables.

Due to the above, we are going to present some data that we consider important with the information collected in the Production Units of the La Conquista Sector intended for livestock production.

First of all, we wanted to verify if the producers have cut grasses planted, and the results obtained show that 54% of the respondents mentioned that they always and almost always use cut species, likewise 65% of those who use these species indicate that they belong to the grass family. On the other hand, 68% of the production units that use cutting grasses, always or almost always use them for fresh animal consumption.

The information collected allows us to infer that a little more than 50% of the farms surveyed use grass cutting species and most of them are destined for fresh consumption of the animal; in this sense, the Servicio para el Agricultor Foundation (2005) indicates that cutting grasslands are not only used for fresh consumption, since they can also be stored and preserved in the form of silage or hay when there are high biomass productions, this alternative will allow to have enough forage material when there is a deficit of it in critical periods.

In this sense, Guzmán (1996), expressed that the cut grass intended for the conservation of fodder should be harvested when it presents its best biological quality (protein and fiber balance) minimizing the loss of nutrients and thus avoiding negative effects on animal consumption, therefore, by integrating preserved pastures of adequate quality into the diet of animals, the production and health of ruminants will benefit.

On the other hand, the results showed that in the production units surveyed, 100% of grazing species belong to the grass family and only a scant 18% are sometimes destined for cutting. On the other hand, the yield of green biomass in 22% of the surveyed farms almost never or never satisfied the foraging demands of the herd. it is striking that, for a small percentage of production units, green biomass does not meet the needs of ruminants, with 52% of respondents also mentioning that they could sometimes meet the demands of their cattle for green fodder. In this regard, Hiriart (2008), states that when the deficit in the production of green biomass is motivated to the intensification of the dry period, the surplus of green fodder should be taken advantage of in the rainy period, pointing out that one of the options used in tropical areas is to conserve the fodder.

The producers were also asked about silage and it was observed that 91% of the reporting units consider the use of silage in the feeding programs of cattle herds to be important, however, of the 91% that consider it important, only about 8% have received training on silage processing, on the other hand, only 10% always or almost always carry out silage as a method of forage conservation in their production unit.

With the information collected it can be inferred that, although most producers consider the implementation of alternatives such as silage important, only a minimum percentage puts it into practice in their production unit possibly due to the little training received on the elaboration of such a conservation method. On the other hand, this situation can also be presented by what was pointed out by Combellas (1998), when he indicated that silage, despite being the most widely used technique for conserving fodder in tropical areas, in Venezuela it is restricted to the conservation of plant species such as sorghum and corn, to be used in times with grassland limitations, a situation that according to Ibáñez and Alvarado (2009), could continue to be implemented in the southern area of Lake Maracaibo, using corn as the main raw material in silage practices .

Dear readers, due to the above, it is necessary to mention that silage can be made with grasses, cereals, trees, shrubs and industrial by-products, information that should be socialized with producers, since as mentioned above it is a feasible alternative to optimize the operation of production systems in tropical areas and that aims to:

To collect the surplus of forage biomass, because the animals cannot use it as green grass, thus avoiding an accumulation of dry stems and dead matter.
To have accumulated fodder of good quality
Efficiently use the resources available in agricultural ecosystems.
Choose the most appropriate method based on the available foraging resources.
The costs should not exceed the income

Final considerations

Livestock farming is one of the activities of great importance in the South of Lake Maracaibo, however, in times where the water deficit intensifies, the yields of green fodder decreases and therefore the production levels on the farms, this situation has generated the search for food alternatives that allow to counteract the deficit of fodder feed in dry seasons, among the alternatives is the conservation of forage whose objective is to harvest quality forage material in times of abundance and preserve them to be supplied to the animals in times of low rainfall.

According to the above, it is necessary to point out that the production units of the la Conquista Sector of the Colon Municipality of the state of Zulia do not escape from this reality, since the species destined to grazing tend not to satisfy the demand of the bovine herd in times of water deficit, this time is specified because the instrument was applied at the entrance of the rainy season therefore the forage surfaces of the respondents were affected by the prolonged drought period.

Despite this situation in the sector, there are few producers who grow cut grass and shrub species to feed the herd, in the same way, of the producers who grow cut grass and shrub species, there are few that use forage conservation and those that do use the silage technique, mostly the heap silo, possibly because it is a cheaper and easier to process variant.

It should be noted that producers do not receive timely training regarding the conservation of fodder, this may be one reason why most producers do not implement the techniques on their farms, another reason could be that those who carry out the conservation do it manually since they do not have the necessary equipment and machinery for harvesting in the field, it can be deduced then that those who do not carry out the conservation of fodder also do not have the necessary tools.

Bibliographic references

Combellas, J. (1998). Feeding the dual-purpose cow and her young. Caracas: INLACA Foundation.
Fundación servicio para el agricultor-FUSAGRI (2005). Pastures. (2nd ed.). Maracaibo: Fusagri.
Guzmán, J. (1996). Pastures and forages of Venezuela. Caracas: Espasande S.R. L. Editors
Hiriart, M. (2008). Silage, processing and quality. Mexico: Trillas.
Ibáñez, N. and Alvarado, D. (2019). Characteristics of the mixed silage of Megathyrsus maximus (Guinea) and Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringa). Unpublished degree work. Universidad Nacional Experimental Sur del Lago: Santa Bárbara de Zulia Venezuela.