Crop-livestock integration system in Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Livestock farming has been a pioneering activity in the occupation of the Amazon in recent decades, replacing significant segments of the forest original area. The cultivated pastures represent the main feed source for herds, and usually in their initial use stage the productivity is satisfactory, but through the time (five to six years after the establishment) a gradual and crescent reduction in the productivity occurs. It has negative reflects in the production parameters leading to unsustainability of the activity. There are many factors leading to this situation, with emphasis to the low natural soil fertility, inadequate germplasm use for the ecological conditions and the adoption of inappropriate management practices. This process leads to imbalance of the soil-plant-animal complex, soil erosion and compaction, reducing the regrowth and productivity of forage plants and favors the emergence of weeds, culminating in the complete pasture degradation. This scenario has attracted the concern of different segments of society, that increasingly make pressure on the productive sector that operates in the Amazonian Biome, with the intention that it adopt sustainable production systems. The rehabilitation of degraded pastures areas has been identified as one of the alternatives and there are effective technologies and processes avaiable, but they  adoption is still limited, considering the wide area to recover. This fact can be attributed to the high financial cost involved in the pasture recovery process. To mitigate this and other limitations, the adoption of crop-livestock integration system has been recommended but somehow this system  must be better understood.