Resumen
Las especies forrajeras constituyen la principal fuente de alimentación de los bovinos en Colombia; en la mayoría de las explotaciones son el único alimento debido a las condiciones climáticas favorables para la producción de forraje a través del año y a lo poco práctico que resulta alimentar rumiantes con granos o subproductos agroindustriales, debido al alto costo y la baja oferta de estos recursos en el mercado nacional. El manejo del pastoreo es el aspecto menos entendido en las explotaciones y ocurren con frecuencia eventos de sobrepastoreo y subpastoreo a lo largo de un mismo año, con reducciones drásticas en la producción animal y en la persistencia del pasto, lo que conduce a una degradación rápida de las praderas. En este artículo se revisan las principales respuestas fisiológicas de las praderas en pastoreo y se incluye un análisis de los efectos del animal sobre las plantas y el suelo. Así mismo, se compendian los mecanismos de respuesta a la defoliación, el papel de las reservas orgánicas, de los meristemos y del área foliar residual, al igual que el manejo del pastoreo, con sus variables de frecuencia e intensidad de la defoliación y su efecto sobre la composición botánica el valor nutritivo y la producción de forraje de la pradera. Finalmente, se analiza brevemente la productividad de las praderas, la producción animal y las variables de respuesta bajo pastoreo.
Pablo Antonio Cuesta Muñoz, Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (Agrosavia)
Zootecnista, Ph.D. Investigador Principal, Programa de Fisiología y Nutrición Animal. Coordinador Area Temática de Recursos Fonajeros, Plan de Modemización Tecnológica de la Ganadería Bovina Colombiana. C.I Tibaitatá. A. A. 240742 Las Palmas. Bogotá
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