A dramatic increase in agricultural production can be observed during the past decades in Brazil, mostly due to increases in yield. Furthermore the sugarcane production increased based on area expansion, mainly over pasture areas. In the same period Brazil became a leading global beef producer. Brazilian official agricultural statistics time series data on agricultural production from 1980 unti...

Concentrations of selected macro minerals (Ca, P, Na, K, and Mg) were determined from coolseason annual grass pasture forages over four consecutive late fall-winter-spring grazing seasons (2001-2005). Forage samples were taken from eight experimental pastures used in beef cattle grazing trials. Two, 2-yr experiments were conducted; animal and pasture data were reported previously (Myer and Blou...

The Cerrado region, with over 50 million hectares of cultivated pasture, provides 55% of Brazilian beef production. Previous investigations have shown that about 70-80% of this pasture is affected by some kind of degradation, leading to low productivity. However, until now, few surveys have been carried out on a regional scale. The aim of the present work is both to assess the fertility and aci...

Escherichia coli is widely considered to not survive for extended periods outside the intestines of warm-blooded animals; however, recent studies demonstrated that E. coli strains maintain populations in soil and water without any known fecal contamination. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the niche partitioning of E. coli occurs between cattle and their pasture. We attemp...

The diet of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr) in mixed hardwood forests on a central Westland hillside is described from analysis of plant cuticle fragments and seeds in their faeces. Faeces were collected monthly for 2.25 years from animals live-trapped from low altitude forest/ pasture margins through to high altitude alpine shrublands. The diet included forest and pasture foliag...

Two, 8-week experiments, each using 30 lactating Holstein cows, were conducted to examine performance of animals offered combinations of total mixed ration (TMR) and high-quality pasture. Experiment 1 was initiated in mid October 2004 and Experiment 2 was initiated in late March 2005. Cows were assigned to either a 100% TMR diet (100:00, no access to pasture) or one of the following three formu...

There has been a decrease in grazing mobility in the Mongolian grasslands over the past decades. Sedentary grazing with substantial external inputs has increased the cost of livestock production. As a result, the livelihoods of herders have become more vulnerable to climate variability and change. Sedentary grazing is the formal institutional arrangement in Inner Mongolia, China. However, this ...

Bioenergy related land use change would likely alter biogeochemical cycles and global greenhouse gas budgets. Energy cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is a sugarcane variety and an emerging biofuel feedstock for cellulosic bio-ethanol production. It has potential for high yields and can be grown on marginal land, which minimizes competition with grain and vegetable production. The DayCent biogeoc...

This study examined the reproductive performance of dihydroxy pyridone (DHP)-inoculated South African indigenous (SAIG) female goats maintained on two dietary treatments: (i) Leucaena leucocephala/grass mixture and (ii) natural pasture prior to conception, and during gestation. Leucaena leucocephala/grass mixture was nutritionally superior (crude protein and mineral elements) than the natural p...