BEHAVIOR AND PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF SHEEP MAINTAINED IN TANZANIA GRASS (PANICUM MAXIMUM) PASTURES UNDER INTERMITTENT STOCKING

Abstract

To evaluate the behavior and productive performance of sheep maintained in tanzania grass (Panicum maximum) pastures under rest periods (RP) corresponding to the time necessary for the expansion of 1.5 (1.5L), 2.5 (2.5L) or 3.5 (3.5L) new leaves/tiller, this research was carried out. Aspects as the time the animals spent under shade and the time spent for grazing, ruminating and in idleness, beyond the number of times defecating, urinating and ingesting water or salt per day as well as tax of bits (TXB) were evaluated. For evaluation of the productive performance, the average daily gain (ADG) and the stock-ing rate expressed in number of animals for hectare (NAH), beyond the production for hectare, express in kg of alive weight ( PLW) were determined. the animals maintained in pastures under 3.5L RP spent 21% of the time between 5 and 18 o’clock under shade. the animals in the paddocks with 2.5L RP spent minor time percentage grazing, indicat-ing that in this condition the animals got to ingest greater amount of forage in a lesser interval time. in relation to the TXB, there were no differences in the periods from 8 to 11 o’clock and from 17 to 18 hours. For the 2.5L RP, there were no differences among the evaluated intervals, but its TXB was higher than the 3.5L RP. in terms of the productive performance, it was observed that the animals maintained in the 1.5L PD showed the greater gmd, however its cor-responding paddocks showed the minor nAh and Auh, comparing to the 3.5L RP paddocks. on the other hand, the 1.5L and the 2.5L pastures presented similar PLW which, in turn, was superior to the 3.5L RP pastures. one concludes that the pastures of tanzania grass must be managed under RP of 2.5 leaves/tiller, as it promotes satisfactory PLW and allow the animals to consume more forage in a minor time interval.

Key-words: grazing pressure, ingestive behavior, turnover tissue.