INTRODUCTION Many tracts of native vegetation still remain in the western portion of that vast North American grassland known as True Prairie. Some are mowed annually for the crop of excellent forage, but far greater areas are now in native pasture (Weaver & Fitzpatrick 1932, 1934). One result of the long years of study of the grazed portion of this grassland was the recognition of the manner i...

Brazil has the largest commercial beef cattle herd in the world (over 190 million head in 2006) [1], with cultivated pastures occupying about 150 million hectares of its territory [2]. On a biome basis, the most extensive pasture occupation is found in the Cerrado (~ 546,251 km, amounting to about 26.8% of the total biome area and 36.8% of the total pasture area in Brazil), the Brazilian savann...

Phosphorus (P) losses from pastures fertilized with poultry litter contribute to the degradation of surface water quality in the United States. Dietary modification and manure amendments may reduce potential P runoff losses from pastures. In the current study, broilers were fed a normal diet, phytase diet, high available phosphorus (HAP) corn diet, or HAP corn + phytase diet. Litter treatments ...

A survey of storm runoff fecal coliform bacteria (FCB) from working farm and ranch pastures is presented in conjunction with a survey of FCB in manure management systems (MMS). The cross-sectional survey of pasture runoff was conducted on 34 pastures on five different dairies over 2 yr under varying conditions of precipitation, slope, manure management, and use of conservation practices such as...

Urban sewage production is increasing and its agronomical use as a fertiliser has been advocated. Considerable defiance is prevalent in consumers and among farmers on the use of such fertilisers due to unknown pathological or environmental risks. The aim of the present review was to consider which pathological risk is major. Cysticercosis due to Taenia saginata appears to be one of the major pa...

The femurs of male and female sheep (Ovis aries), aged 18 months, bred on pastures fertilized twice annually with sewage sludge (2.25 tonnes dry matter/ha; Treated; T)) or on pastures treated with inorganic fertilizer (Control; C) were studied, using peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (pQCT) and the three-point bending test. Males were maintained on the respective treatments from conce...

The influence of climate and time of deposition on the colonization of sheep faeces by nematophagous fungi was examined in the Mata Region of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Sheep faeces were collected from the rectums of animals and deposited on pastures of Brachiaria decumbens in the months of July and October 1995 and January and April 1996. Samples of the deposited faeces were recovered 3, 7 an...

Land use changes strongly impact soil functions, particularly microbial biomass diversity and activity. We hypothesized that the catabolic respiration response of the microbial biomass would differ depending on land use and that these differences would be consistent at the landscape scale. In the present study, we analyzed the catabolic response profile of the soil microbial biomass through sub...

the plant diversity of natural grassland communities, some producers in the Northeast often plant complex Some producers believe that planting pastures to several forage mixtures of grasses and legumes (Tracy and Sanderson, species benefits sustainability of grazing systems. We conducted a grazing study to determine if forage species diversity in pastures affects 2000; Sanderson et al., 2001) b...

Environment and seedling community under isolated trees in pastures are different from those in the open pasture. The effect of the pasture trees on the soil nutrients and on the seedling growth were investigated. Seven isolated trees and eight plots were selected in two pastures of 12-yr and 32-yr old derived from a lowland rain forest with nutrient-rich soil at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. The soil c...