Abstract 325

Perez-Infante,-F; Gonzalez,-F; Infante,-F-Perez

Estacion Pastos 'Nina Bonita', Cangrejeras, Havana, Cuba.

Cuban-Journal-of-Agricultural-Science. 1985, 19: 3, 249-256; 14 ref.

In 2 Latin-square trials with 28-day periods during May-Aug. (rainy season) 16 Holstein-Friesian X zebu cows grazed rotationally on pangola grass (Digitaria decumbens), pangola A-24 grass (Digitaria decumbens), Coastal Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and star grass (Cynodon nlemfuensis) at av. 4.4, 4.4, 4.4 and 5.6/ha resp. (trial 1), or on Kenya grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis), corzo grass (Echinochloa polystachya), para grass (Brachiaria mutica) and Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) at av. 4.8, 4.8, 4.8 and 5.7/ha resp. All grasses were fertilized with N at 50 kg/ha in May and June and 30 kg/ha in July and Aug. There was no significant difference among grass spp. in milk yield/cow in either trial (av. 8.8-9.2 and 7-8 kg/day in the 1st and 2nd trials resp.); milk composition did not differ significantly among grasses in the 1st trial, but in the 2nd trial milk protein was lower with corzo grass than with other grasses and milk TS content was lowest with Kenya grass and highest with Guinea grass. The av. crude protein content of grass DM ranged from 11.92% for Guinea grass to 14.48% for Kenya grass, and crude fibre varied from 26.45% for Kenya grass to 36.13% in Guinea grass. The only grass greatly affected by weeds in the course of the trial (an increase from 10 to 25% weed) was corzo grass. It is concluded that milk production from the grasses was limited by energy consumption.