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Grazed rain-fed small-grain cereals as a forage option for small-scale dairy systems in central Mexico

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Abstract

Small-scale dairy systems face reduced availability of water for irrigation of pastures and disruption in the amount or pattern of rains due to climate change, so research on alternative short-cycle rain-fed forages is needed. Grazing reduces feeding costs and small-grain cereals may be an option. The objective was to assess on-farm the performance of dairy cows grazing 6 h/day of three small-grain cereals: rye (RYE), wheat (WHT), and triticale (TRT), and supplemented 4.5 kg dry matter (DM)/cow/day of concentrate. Twelve Holstein cows were used in repeated 3 × 3 Latin squares with 14-day experimental periods. Pasture variables were analysed with a split-plot design, and economic analysis was performed with partial budgets. Sampling of forage (sward height, net herbage accumulation, botanical and chemical composition of herbage) and animal variables (milk yield and composition, live weight, and body condition score) were at the end of each period. The RYE showed a trend (P > 0.05) for higher net herbage accumulation (NHA) with highly significant differences (P < 0.001) among periods. The RYE had higher DM, a lower crude protein (CP) content (P < 0.05), and no differences for other chemical components between treatments (P > 0.05). The RYE proportion in pasture was consistently higher, whilst the lowest cereal proportion was in WHT. There were no differences (P > 0.05) for any animal variable. The RYE and TRT treatments proved useful as rain-fed forage alternatives under grazing. WHT showed lower crop and economic performance. However, given the higher cereal component in pastures, regrowth potential, and post-grazing herbage mass, as well as better economic performance, the RYE treatment was better ranked by the participating farmer.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the producers who participated in this experiment; their privacy is respected and their name is not disclosed. We also acknowledge María de Lourdes Maya Salazar and Laura Edith Martínez Contreras for their support in laboratory.

Funding

Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México through the grant UAEM 4973/2020CIP and the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT)) through the postgraduate grant for Jesús-Israel Vega-García.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales (ICAR), Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Campus UAEM El Cerrillo, El Cerrillo Piedras Blancas, 50090, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico

    Jesús Israel Vega-García, Felipe López-González & Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán

  2. Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Campus UAEM El Cerrillo, El Cerrillo Piedras Blancas, 50090, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico

    Ernesto Morales-Almaraz

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  1. Jesús Israel Vega-García
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  2. Felipe López-González
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  3. Ernesto Morales-Almaraz
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  4. Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán
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Contributions

Jesús Israel Vega-García (jvegag169@alumno.uaemex.mx): ORCID: 0000-0003-0880-5412. Contribution: investigation, laboratory analyses, and writing the original draft.

Felipe López-González (flopezg@uaemex.mx). ORCID: 0000-0001-7769-3755. Contribution: methodology, formal analyses, supervision, writing, reviewing, and editing.

Ernesto Morales-Almaraz (emoralesa@uaemex.mx). ORCID: 0000-0003-0675-2193. Contribution: writing, reviewing, and editing.

Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán (cmarriagaj@uaemex.mx), ORCID: 0000–0002–6140-0847. Contribution: conceptualisation, resources, writing, review, editing and translation, supervision, and funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felipe López-González.

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Ethics approval

Experimental procedures with dairy cows and work with the collaborating farmer followed guidelines accepted by Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales (ICAR) of Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, and the experiment was institutionally approved (DICARM-0321).

Consent to participate

The work reported herein was carried out as an on-farm experiment with a collaborating small-scale dairy farmer who was fully aware of the objectives of the work and participated actively in the experiment; was duly informed and consulted and their decisions were respected at all times. Finally, their privacy and that of their family are respected by not disclosing their names.

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Vega-García, J.I., López-González, F., Morales-Almaraz, E. et al. Grazed rain-fed small-grain cereals as a forage option for small-scale dairy systems in central Mexico. Trop Anim Health Prod 53, 511 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-021-02958-y

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