Performance of beef animals after different corn harvest strategies in a crop-livestock integrated system

ABSTRACT Corn can be used in several ways as an animal feed in crop-livestock integrated systems. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate three harvest strategies of corn intercropped with pigeon pea + Palisade grass on weight gain since grazing through finishing. A triple intercropping of corn + pigeon pea + Palisade grass was established in nine hectares (ha) during the 2016/17 season. Treatments were determined according to each corn harvest strategy: whole crop silage (WCS), high moisture corn (HMC) or corn grain (CG). The latter was not harvested due to a low yield and difficulties to hire a combine harvester for only three ha. After harvest, the 9-ha area was divided in six 1.5-ha pens for the grazing phase of the experiment with 30 non-castrated Nelore steers. The same animals were fed feedlot diets based on three sources of corn following the same harvest strategy (treatments): WCS, HMC or CG (bought from a feed industry). During the grazing phase the area that was supposed to be harvested for CG resulted in the greatest (p ≤ 0.05) stocking rate (3.02 LU/ha) and weight gain per area (210 kg of BW/ha) compared with WCS and HMC. There was no response (p≥0.05) of corn source (according to each harvest strategy) on feed conversion ratio (FCR), body weith (BW) growth, subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), pre-slaughter BW, hot carcass weight (HCW) and dressing percentage (DP) during the finishing phase. The data reported here may be a valuable guideline for decision making according to the beef production system and economic scenario.