Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy
Warm-season grasses are the main source of feed in tropical and subtropical beef cattle production systems. The objective was to assess cattle preference among three warm-season grasses and explore its relationship with forage yield and plant structural traits. The three species were cultivated i...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
MDPI
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/24704 https://www.mdpi.com/2813-3463/4/4/40 https://doi.org/10.3390/grasses4040040 |
| _version_ | 1855038991137505280 |
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| author | Marcón, Florecia Di Lorenzo, Elio Luis Peichoto, Myriam Carolina Acuña, Carlos Alberto |
| author_browse | Acuña, Carlos Alberto Di Lorenzo, Elio Luis Marcón, Florecia Peichoto, Myriam Carolina |
| author_facet | Marcón, Florecia Di Lorenzo, Elio Luis Peichoto, Myriam Carolina Acuña, Carlos Alberto |
| author_sort | Marcón, Florecia |
| collection | INTA Digital |
| description | Warm-season grasses are the main source of feed in tropical and subtropical beef cattle
production systems. The objective was to assess cattle preference among three warm-season
grasses and explore its relationship with forage yield and plant structural traits. The three
species were cultivated in 2 × 2 m plots using a completely randomized design. Cattle
preference was evaluated in spring (December 2016 and 2017), summer (March 2017), and
autumn (May2017) using six Braford steers that grazed the plots for 4 h on two consecutive
days. Pre-grazing forage yield, plant height, leaf-blade length, leaf-blade width, and the
proportions of five leaf tissues at three leaf regions were measured at each date. Cattle
preference was variable among the three species and evaluation dates. Paspalum atratum
exhibited the highest pre-grazing forage yield, and constituted the tallest plants with the
longest leaves during the summer. Urochloa brizantha showed the greatest proportion of
vascular bundle sheath (17–30% at the midrib region, 25–31% at the interveinal region
and 14–23% at the margin region) and P. atratum exhibited the greatest number of primary
vascular bundle. Cattle preference was negatively correlated with the number of primary
vascular bundle, pre-grazing forage yield, plant height and leaf-blade length. |
| format | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| id | INTA24704 |
| institution | Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina) |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| publisherStr | MDPI |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INTA247042025-12-22T13:28:24Z Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy Marcón, Florecia Di Lorenzo, Elio Luis Peichoto, Myriam Carolina Acuña, Carlos Alberto Ganado Bovino Alimentación de los Animales Pastoreo Rendimiento del Forraje Altura de la Planta Estación Cálida Cattle Animal Feeding Grazing Forage Yield Plant Height Warm Season Warm-season grasses are the main source of feed in tropical and subtropical beef cattle production systems. The objective was to assess cattle preference among three warm-season grasses and explore its relationship with forage yield and plant structural traits. The three species were cultivated in 2 × 2 m plots using a completely randomized design. Cattle preference was evaluated in spring (December 2016 and 2017), summer (March 2017), and autumn (May2017) using six Braford steers that grazed the plots for 4 h on two consecutive days. Pre-grazing forage yield, plant height, leaf-blade length, leaf-blade width, and the proportions of five leaf tissues at three leaf regions were measured at each date. Cattle preference was variable among the three species and evaluation dates. Paspalum atratum exhibited the highest pre-grazing forage yield, and constituted the tallest plants with the longest leaves during the summer. Urochloa brizantha showed the greatest proportion of vascular bundle sheath (17–30% at the midrib region, 25–31% at the interveinal region and 14–23% at the margin region) and P. atratum exhibited the greatest number of primary vascular bundle. Cattle preference was negatively correlated with the number of primary vascular bundle, pre-grazing forage yield, plant height and leaf-blade length. EEA Colonia Benítez Fil: Marcón, Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentina Fil: Marcón, Florencia. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE). Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentina Fil: Di Lorenzo, Elio Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Colonia Benitez; Argentina Fil: Peichoto, Myriam Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentina Fil: Peichoto, Myriam Carolina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE). Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentina Fil: Acuña, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentina Fil: Acuña, Carlos Alberto. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE). Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentina 2025-12-22T13:16:42Z 2025-12-22T13:16:42Z 2025-10 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/24704 https://www.mdpi.com/2813-3463/4/4/40 2813-3463 https://doi.org/10.3390/grasses4040040 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf MDPI Grasses, 4(4), 40 (october 2025) |
| spellingShingle | Ganado Bovino Alimentación de los Animales Pastoreo Rendimiento del Forraje Altura de la Planta Estación Cálida Cattle Animal Feeding Grazing Forage Yield Plant Height Warm Season Marcón, Florecia Di Lorenzo, Elio Luis Peichoto, Myriam Carolina Acuña, Carlos Alberto Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy |
| title | Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy |
| title_full | Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy |
| title_fullStr | Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy |
| title_short | Cattle Preference in Warm-Season Grasses: Effects of Seasonal Growth, Leaf Morphology, and Leaf Anatomy |
| title_sort | cattle preference in warm season grasses effects of seasonal growth leaf morphology and leaf anatomy |
| topic | Ganado Bovino Alimentación de los Animales Pastoreo Rendimiento del Forraje Altura de la Planta Estación Cálida Cattle Animal Feeding Grazing Forage Yield Plant Height Warm Season |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/24704 https://www.mdpi.com/2813-3463/4/4/40 https://doi.org/10.3390/grasses4040040 |
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