Diet composition and forage intake of horses and cattle grazing in Puna Grasslands during the wet and dry season

Flores E.R.; Gonzales E.E.; Tácuna R.E. · Journal of Rangeland Science (2025) · DOI: 10.57647/j.jrs.2025.1503.21

Resumen

Peruvian puna grasslands are extensively used by horses and cattle but the competitive relationships between both animal species are not known, so a trial was conducted to understand how the composition of the diet and forage intake varied in the dry and wet season. The grassland was of fair condition and was dominated by Festuca inarticulata and Calamagrostis vicunarum. Diet samples were collected over two seasons, wet (February and April) and dry (August and November), and analyzed for botanical composition at species and plant parts, nutritive value, dead and green proportions, diversity and dry matter intake. Data were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA with season and animal as factors. The results showed that the composition of the average diet was similar and was made up of tall grasses. The average nutritional value and forage intake were similar, improving their digestibility with the advent of the wet season. The greatest difference was obtained at the level of plant parts and functional groups and occurred in the wet season with horses consuming a greater proportion of stems and senescent material than cattle. It was concluded that although both animal species exhibit a high overlap in botanical composition of the diet, their diet composition did not differ at the level of plant parts (stems vs. leaf), quality (green vs. dead) and functional groups (grasses, grasslikes and forbs). Thus, horses could be used in complementary grazing systems to increase forage utilization efficiency.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina