Tropical forage evaluation: Review

Abstract

The forage is all food consumed by animals (grasses and legumes), the most important component in the diet of ruminants, is through the ingestion of dry matter forage that essential nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, are metabolised in the gastric intestinal tract and absorbed into the bloodstream through chemical and physiological mechanisms at the level of the digestive system of ruminants. Thus, it is necessary to adopt the properties for animal production management of pasture, it is through dry matter intake pasture, the animals can maximize their productive and reproductive performance. Poorly managed pastures do not provide nutrients in quantity and quality throughout the year for the animals. The methods used for the grazing system are: intermittent grazing, strip grazing, deferred grazing and grazing limit. Therefore, aimed to address the different methods used at the level of research and extension, through production of dry matter measurements of tropical forages