 | Abstract 352Preliminary studies on the utilization of the natural vegetation in the henequen zone of Yucatan for the production of goats. I. Selection and nutritive value of native plants.Rios,-G; Riley,-JA Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad de Yucatan, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Tropical-Animal-Production. 1985, 10: 1, 1-10; 14 ref. In the 1982-3 dry season (Nov.-May), the length of time goats spent grazing (a) bushes, (b) herbaceous plants, (c) herbaceous climbing and trailing plants or (d) grasses, in an old henequen (Agave fourcroydes) field with approx. 10 years regrowth of natural vegetation was noted. 56 plant spp. were identified of which 24, 21, 10 and 1 were (a), (b), (c) and (d), resp. 17, 19, 29, 31, 31, 17 and 15 spp. were grazed in Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb., March, April and May, resp., but >55% of the grazing time was spent eating 3-7 spp. In April total available DM was 448 kg/ha, 68% of which was Bouteloua filiformis, Croton flavens and Viguiera dentata. In March-April, Leucaena leucocephala was a preferred sp., occupying 2.4-4% of the total eating time but providing only 0.01% of total DM yield. CP content of L. leucocephala and C. flavens tended to decrease from 26.5 and 19.3% in Dec. to 16.0 and 15.2% in April, resp. This abstract relates to the following species:
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