Introduction
⌅The cattle beat and milk production at worldwide constitutes a great sector dynamic and in growing. This happens in environments where the common properties are in bad conditions: the vital support in low resources sectors, food and nutritional safety; natural resources and environment; as well as human and animal health. Therefore, this situation needs the decisions taking at different levels that favors to the sectors and, improvements in the rules to face problems and disadvantages with the purpose of increasing the development of livestock system (Ojeda Quintana et al. 2020Ojeda Quintana, L.J., Arteaga Rodríguez, O., Escobar Escobar, L.A. & López Milián, A. 2020. Efecto de la inoculación con hongos micorrízicos arbusculares (HMA) y humus de lombriz en el establecimiento de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115. IDESIA, 38(2): 5-11, ISSN: 0718-3429. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34292020000200005.).
The grasses and forages, due their abundance and fast growing, constitutes the main feeding source in tropical regions for cattle and it is necessary the production of these plants during all the seasons of the year (Ledea-Rodríguez et al. 2017Ledea Rodríguez, J.L., Benítez, D.G., Pérez, A., Crucito, R. & Guerra Manso, A. 2017. Comportamiento agronómico de cultivares de Cenchrus purpureus tolerantes a la salinidad. Revista de Producción Animal, 29(3): 18-28, ISSN: 2224–7920, http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rpa/v29n3/rpa04317.pdf.). Likewise, to understand the grasses and forage growing is necessary to considered the transformations that occurs in the livestock ecosystems, which are influenced by the climatic change, soil management and bad agricultural practices that causes the soil degradation in the meadows, limiting the growing and persistence of forages species and other grasses (Ledea Rodríguez et al. 2017Ledea Rodríguez, J.L., Benítez, D.G., Pérez, A., Crucito, R. & Guerra Manso, A. 2017. Comportamiento agronómico de cultivares de Cenchrus purpureus tolerantes a la salinidad. Revista de Producción Animal, 29(3): 18-28, ISSN: 2224–7920, http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rpa/v29n3/rpa04317.pdf.).
The forages species as sugar cane and those from Cenchrus sp genus constitutes viable strategies as biomass banks for the season with lack of feed. The studies showed that with adequate managements is possible to obtain high yields with acceptable quality that contributes to the nutritional requirements of the bovine mass (Herrera 2022Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005.).
At present, the Cenchrus sp. species are widely distributed in the tropical regions and in several universities and Latin-American institutes are researching the different cultivars from this genus; especially those obtained through genetic improvements programs with different biotechnological methods (Sinche et al. 2021Sinche, M., Kannan, B., Paudel, D., Corsato, C., Lopez, Y., Wang, J. & Altpeter, F. 2021. Development and characterization of a Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus Schumach) mapping population for flowering-time-and biomass-related traits reveal individuals with exceptional potential and hybrid vigor. GCB Bioenergy, 13(9): 1561-1575, ISSN: 1757-1693. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12876., Vander Pereira et al. 2021Vander Pereira, A., de Andrade Lira, M., Machado, J.C., de Miranda Gomide, C.A., Martins, C. E., da Silva Lédo, F. J. & Daher, R.F. 2021. Elephant grass, a tropical grass for cutting and grazing. Revista Brasileira de Ciencias Agrarias, 16(3): 1-13, ISSN: 1981-1160. https://doi.org/10.5039/agraria.v16i3a9317. and Lire Wachamo 2022Lire Wachamo, H. 2022. Diversity and genome-wide association in Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus L.) collections for agronomic and drought-tolerance related traits. Doctoral dissertation, Hawassa Universit). pp 124. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11055.61601.). Specifically, Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115 was release by Instituto de Ciencia Animal, Cuba, for the forage production and direct grazing. This forage has low height and acceptable yield and leaf/stems relation. Also, its use in ruminants stimulate the growing and milk production (Ojeda Quintana et al. 2020Ojeda Quintana, L.J., Arteaga Rodríguez, O., Escobar Escobar, L.A. & López Milián, A. 2020. Efecto de la inoculación con hongos micorrízicos arbusculares (HMA) y humus de lombriz en el establecimiento de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115. IDESIA, 38(2): 5-11, ISSN: 0718-3429. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34292020000200005.).
The tropical forages due to their intrinsic characteristics are of fast growing and maturing. However, their nutritive contribution is affected due to the plant maturity, which makes the cell wall content worse, rich in lignocellulosic structure, which can decrease the use of other nutrients of the ration. The mentioned transformations have a direct effect on the digestive physiology of ruminants; hence, it is needed to know the variability of the plant quality with the regrowth age in different productive systems. Thus, this study evaluated the effect of the regrowth age on the yield indicators, chemical composition, and digestibility of the Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115 under the edaphoclimatic conditions of Zamorano, Honduras.
Materials and Methods
⌅Experimental ecology
⌅The study was developed in the experimental areas of the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Universidad de Zamorano, Honduras, located in the km 32 of Tegucigalpa roadway to Danlí (13°59´46" N and 87°0´ 42" W) at 780 m o.s.l. the experimental period was between October 2020 to May 2021 (dry season).
The climate is classifying as tropical of grassland (Holdridge 1987Holdridge, LR. 1987. Ecología basada en zonas de vida. Trad. por Humberto Jiménez Saa. San José. Costa Rica. IICA. 216 p. ISBN: 92-9039-1316, https://repositorio.iica.int/bitstream/handle/11324/7936/BVE19040225e.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.); the rainfall was 356.44 mm; the mean temperature was 19.5 °C and the relative humidity 67 %, in the study phase (1419 mm/year, 27.5 °C and 80 % as annual average of rainfalls, temperature and relative humidity, respectively). The soil in the area is Fluvisol (Soil Survey Staff 2014Soil Survey Staff. 2014. Keys to soil taxonomy, 12th edn. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lincoln. ISBN- 13. 978-0929900018, https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/PA_NRCSConsumption/download?cid=stelprdb122094&ext=pdf.) and the chemical composition is shown in table 1.
| pH (H2O) | g/100g | mg/kg (to extract) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CO | OM | N total | P | K | Ca | Mg | Na | |
| 5.76 | 2.44 | 4.2 | 0.21 | 16 | 533 | 1526 | 186 | ND |
Treatment and experimental design
⌅A random block design with five replications was used and the treatments consisted of the regrowth ages of 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 days.
Procedure
⌅An area of 841 m2 (29 x 29 m) was used for the study, the plots measured 25 m2 (5 x 5 m) with 1m space between them, the soil was prepared in a conventional way and the Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115 was planting on May 2020 at 90 cm between furrows with a density of 13 kg of seed/plot, 180 days of age of the vegetative material, furrow deep of 20 cm, the whole stems placed on top were put on the bottom of the furrow, making to coincide the basal part with the apical one, which were cut into pieces with sharp machete guaranteeing cuttings with 6 buds approximately, later they were covered with a soil layer of 10 cm, irrigation and fertilization was not applied and there were made labors to control the weeds, all plots has a similar population (98 %).
The plants were established between May to October 2020, in this period the homogenization cut at 10 cm over the soil level was carried out. Later, for the sample taking, the border effect was considering (0.5 m for each side in the plot) and the central part was harvested every 15 days from 30 days of the initial cut at 20 cm over the soil level. As study variables were determined the biomass production, yield in total dry matter, length, width and number of leaves per plants and plant height (Herrera et al. 2017Herrera, R.S., Verdecia, D.M., Ramírez, J.L., García, M. & Cruz, A.M. 2017. Relation between some climatic factors and the chemical composition of Tithonia diversifolia. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 51(2): 271–279, ISSN: 2079-3480. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=193057228013.). Then the harvested material was homogenized and 2 kg per treatment and replication were taking according to experimental design for their sending to the laboratory.
Determination of the bromatological composition
⌅After collecting the plant samples, they were dried in a forced air oven at 65 °C, later were milled at 1 mm particle size and stored in amber bottles until their processing in the laboratory, to determined: dry matter, crude protein, ashes, organic matter (OM), P, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn (AOAC 2016AOAC, G.W. 2016. Official methods of analysis of AOAC International. 20th ed., Rockville, MD: AOAC International, ISBN: 978-0-935584-87-5, Available at: http://www.directtextbook.com/isbn/9780935584875. [Consulted: September 22, 2016].); neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), cellulose (Cel), hemicellulose (Hcel) and cellular content (CC) according to Goering and Van Soest (1970)Goering, H.K. & Van Soest, P.J. 1970. Forage fiber analyses: Apparatus, reagent, procedures and some applications. In: Agriculture Handbook No. 379. Ed. U.S.D.A. Agricultural Research Service, Department of Agriculture, United States of America, p. 20. https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/CAT87209099.. Likewise, the digestibility of the dry matter and organic matter was determined (Aumont et al. 1995Aumont, G., Caudron, I., Saminadin, G., & Xandé, A. 1995. Sources of variation in nutritive values of tropical forages from the Caribbean. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 51(1-2): 1-13, ISSN: 0377-8401. http://doi.org/10.1016/0377-8401(94)00688-6.), also, the Cáceres and González (2000)Cáceres, O. & González, E. 2000. Metodología para la determinación del valor nutritivo de los forrajes tropicales. Pastos y Forrajes, 23(1): 87-92, ISSN: 0864-0394. https://hal.science/hal-01190063/document. criteria were taking into account to determine the metabolizable energy and net lactation energy. All determinations were performed in duplicate and by replication.
Statistical analysis
⌅Analysis of variance was performed according to experimental design and means were compared using the Duncan (1955)Duncan, D.B. 1955. Multiple range and multiple F test. Biometrics, 11(1): 1-42, ISSN: 1541-0420. https://doi.org/10.2307/3001478. multiple range test. For the normal distribution of data, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (Massey 1951Massey, F.J. 1951. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for goodness of fit. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 4(543): 68-78, ISSN: 1537-274X. https://doi.org/10.2307/2280095.) test was used and for the variances the Bartlett (1937)Bartlett, M. 1937. Properties of sufficiency and statistical tests. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 160(2): 268–282, ISSN: 1471-2946. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1937.0109. test.
Results
⌅The performance of the morphological indicators of the plant at different regrowth ages is shown in table 2. There were significant differences for all the studied indicators, with increases as the plant maturity advance, the highest values were reached at 90 days with a length of 128.81 and leaves width of 3.01cm, leaves per plant of 10.64 and height of 235.94 cm.
| Age, days | Leaves | Plant height, cm | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length, cm | Width, cm | Number/plant | ||
| 30 | 71.41e | 1.92e | 6.44e | 118.41e |
| 45 | 88.89d | 2.03cd | 6.60d | 153.40d |
| 60 | 100.80c | 2.05c | 7.12c | 186.19c |
| 75 | 102.76b | 2.89b | 10.21b | 216.43b |
| 90 | 128.81a | 3.01a | 10.64a | 235.94a |
| SE± | 4.51 | 0.13 | 0.56 | 11.88 |
| P | <0.0001 | <0.0001 | 0.0015 | <0.0001 |
a,b,c,d Means with different letters in column differ at p<0.05 (Duncan 1955Duncan, D.B. 1955. Multiple range and multiple F test. Biometrics, 11(1): 1-42, ISSN: 1541-0420. https://doi.org/10.2307/3001478.)
Figure 1 shown that, at 90 regrowth days Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115 increased the production of green matter and dry matter up to 6.78 t.ha-1 and 2.25 t.ha-1, respectively.
For the performance of the cell wall composition (table3) the classic dynamic of tropical forage of grasses was maintained with increases of the dry matter (DM), structural carbohydrates (NDF, ADF, Cel, Hcel and lignin ADL) up to 90 days (36.40, 79.06, 50.15, 34.95, 50.15 and 4.45 %, respectively); while the cell content (CC) and crude protein (CP) decrease as the regrowth age increase with the highest values at 30 days (28.67 and 12.14 %, respectively).
| Cell wall, % | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, days | DM | CP | NDF | ADF | ADL | Cell | Hcel | CC |
| 30 | 19.10d | 12.14a | 71.33e | 32.61e | 3.05e | 27.35e | 26.65e | 28.67a |
| 45 | 19.82d | 11.91a | 73.67d | 37.71d | 3.41d | 28.91d | 37.71d | 26.33b |
| 60 | 21.20c | 9.37b | 75.33c | 39.47c | 3.97c | 31.65c | 39.47c | 24.67c |
| 75 | 34.36b | 6.66c | 77.48b | 41.47b | 4.17b | 33.04b | 41.47b | 22.52d |
| 90 | 36.40a | 5.79d | 79.06a | 50.15a | 4.45a | 34.95a | 50.15a | 20.94e |
| SE± | 0.010 | 0.130 | 0.010 | 0.247 | 0.009 | 0.564 | 0.076 | 1.760 |
| P | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
a,b,c,d,e Means with different letters in column differ at P<0.05
The digestibilities and energies decreased (P<0.05) as the regrowth age increased and the lower values, for both indicators were obtained at 90 regrowth days (table 4).
| Age, days | Digestibility, % | Energy, MJ.kgDM-1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DMD | OMD | ME | NFE | |
| 30 | 72.26a | 66.45a | 10.55a | 7.66a |
| 45 | 70.33b | 65.78a | 10.02ab | 6.55b |
| 60 | 69.45b | 63.45b | 9.36b | 5.84c |
| 75 | 67.78c | 61.09c | 8.44c | 5.67c |
| 90 | 65.56d | 59.66d | 8.24d | 4.56d |
| SE± | 1.04 | 1.34 | 0.678 | 0.543 |
| P | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.0001 | <0.0001 |
a,b,c,d Means with different letters in column differ at P<0.05
The minerals content in Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115 (table 5) was variable, the ash and K decreased with the age and the highest values (17.96 and 4.5 %, respectively) were reached at 30 regrowth days. However, the other macro elements were higher at 45 regrowth days for then decrease up to 90 days. The microelements Cu, Fe and Mn increased up to 45 days with 16.66, 89 and 144.67 mg.kg-1, respectively, as higher values for then decrease (10.66, 48 and 109.34 mg.kg-1) up to 75 days and increased (7, 16 and 34.33 mg.kg-1) up to 90 days, while Zn was high at 90 days with 54 mg.kg-1.
| Age, days | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minerals | 30 | 45 | 60 | 75 | 90 | SE± | P |
| Ashes, % | 17.66a | 17.36b | 16.9c | 12.30d | 11.20e | 0.561 | 0.002 |
| P, % | 0.24ab | 0.25a | 0.22c | 0.12d | 0.15e | 0.025 | <0.001 |
| K, % | 4.5a | 2.99b | 2.95c | 2.03d | 1.74e | 0.05 | <0.001 |
| Ca, % | 0.27de | 0.42a | 0.31b | 0.27d | 0.30c | 0.010 | 0.0009 |
| Mg, % | 0.09e | 0.11bc | 0.10d | 0.11b | 0.12a | 0.010 | 0.0009 |
| Cu, mg.kg-1 | 9.00c | 16.66a | 7.66d | 6.00e | 13.00b | 0.220 | <0.0001 |
| Fe, mg.kg-1 | 59.00b | 89.00a | 42.66d | 41.00e | 57.00c | 1.89 | <0.0001 |
| Mn, mg.kg-1 | 88.33c | 144.67a | 92.00b | 35.33e | 69.66d | 1.43 | <0.0001 |
| Zn, mg.kg-1 | 29.33b | 23.00d | 26.00c | 10.00e | 54.00a | 1.84 | <0.0001 |
a,b,c,d,e Means with different letters in column differ at P<0.05
Discussion
⌅The morphological growing and developing is a process that is linked to the maturity the plant reaches when the cut periods are longer, hence the length, width, number of leaves and plant height has been increased with the regrowth days (table 2). These results coincide with Villanueva Avalos et al. (2022)Villanueva Avalos, J.F., Vázquez González, A. & Quero Carrillo, A.R. 2022. Atributos agronómicos y producción de forraje en ecotipos de Cenchrus purpureus en condiciones de trópico subhúmedo. Revista mexicana de ciencias agrícolas, 13(SPE27): 1-9, ISSN: 2007-0934. https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v13i27.3147., who evaluated several cultivars of Cenchrus cultivars (Elefante, Uruguana, Taiwán, CT-169, Caña Africana, Maralfalfa, Mott, Roxo, King Grass violet, CT-115, Merkerón, Cameron, King Grass green and three ecotypes of Tamaulipas: Elefante Tamps). Also, these authors find that the cultivars obtained by biotechnologies techniques (CT-115 and CT-169) showed the best morphological characteristics, since the rest has high variability in the growing under the Mexican dry tropic.
Herrera (2022)Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005. informed heights from 65.63 to 79.58 cm for CT-115 in ferrallitic soils, this indicator is important to understand the growth of cultivars with different biochemical and physiological characteristics under several environmental conditions and agricultural works. Ojeda Quintana et al. (2020)Ojeda Quintana, L.J., Arteaga Rodríguez, O., Escobar Escobar, L.A. & López Milián, A. 2020. Efecto de la inoculación con hongos micorrízicos arbusculares (HMA) y humus de lombriz en el establecimiento de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115. IDESIA, 38(2): 5-11, ISSN: 0718-3429. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34292020000200005. found the best response of Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115 under many rainfalls conditions, something that is not happen during the dry season, where the climate factors (rainfalls, temperatures, solar radiation, intensity and duration of light hours) limits the growing and other morphological indicators of grasses.
Pérez Ramos et al. (2021)Pérez Ramos, P., Villegas Aparicio, Y., Castro Rivera, R., Castañeda Hidalgo, E., Gómez Vázquez, A. & Carrillo Rodríguez, J.C. 2021. Crecimiento de ecotipos de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach) Morrone en condiciones de temporal. Revista Fitotecnia Mexicana, 44(4A): 765 – 772, ISSN: 0187-7380. https://doi.org/10.35196/rfm.2021.4-A.765. informed 8.5 leaves per plant, 60 cm of plant height and 40 cm of leaves length in CT-115 up to 180 days, lower results to those reached in this study, these differences are due to phenological cycle of this species. In this sense, Arias et al. (2018Arias, R.C., Ledea, J.L., Benítez, D.G., Ray, J. V. & Ramírez De La Ribera, J.L. 2018. Performance of new varieties of Cenchrus purpureus, tolerant to drought, during dry period. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 52(2): 1–12, ISSN: 2079-3480. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1930/193060591010/193060591010.pdf., 2019Arias, R.C., Reyes, J.J., Ledea, J.L., Benítez, D.G., Ray, J. V. & Hernández, L.G. 2019. Respuesta agroproductiva de nuevas variedades de Cenchrus purpureus. Tropical and subtropical Agroecosistems, 22: 79–86, ISSN: 1870-0462. https://doi.org/10.56369/tsaes.2778.) and Ledea et al. (2018a)Ledea, J.L., Verdecia Acosta, D., Ray Ramírez, J.V., La O León, O., Reyes Pérez, J.J. & Murillo Amado, B. 2018b. Caracterización química de nuevas variedades de Cenchrus purpureus tolerantes a la sequía. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 29(3): 655-672, ISSN: 2215-3608. https://doi.org/10.15517/ma.v29i3.32910. when evaluating different C. purpureus cultivars tolerant to water stress observed that from 120 regrowth days the dimensions (length and width) of leaves are reduced in relation with the 90 days, and they attributed to the most lower distribution of the leaf area due to the incidence of low size leaves. Therefore, it is produce high biomass duration and the self-shading, apparently, did not influence on the interception of light, which increase the photosynthesis rate, with low accumulation of fresh biomass.
In this sense, Herrera (2022)Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005. explain that, during the growing, the grasses have a compensatory mechanism from the physiological point of view; however, despite the high availability of the total biomass (leaves and stems) with the growing the edible biomass decrease by the high amount of structural carbohydrates and lignin when the stem fraction increased. Therefore, the varieties and ecotypes of C. purpureus present advantages considering morphological, physiological, and productive characteristics, which gives them usefulness under adverse edaphoclimatic conditions (Sinche et al. 2021Sinche, M., Kannan, B., Paudel, D., Corsato, C., Lopez, Y., Wang, J. & Altpeter, F. 2021. Development and characterization of a Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus Schumach) mapping population for flowering-time-and biomass-related traits reveal individuals with exceptional potential and hybrid vigor. GCB Bioenergy, 13(9): 1561-1575, ISSN: 1757-1693. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12876.).
It is recommended before to introduce any variety or ecotype in a region to perform studies of morphological characterization in order to know the adaptability to those conditions. Hence, this study from the beginning constituted the first test of the CT-115 variety under the edaphoclimatic conditions of Honduras, for which the dry season was selected to evaluate the adaptability of this cultivar being proved in many regions. Also, will be of great importance for the Honduran beef and milk livestock to have a variety with abundant biomass accumulation, low size and can be use in grazing, although for that is still needed to deep and perform studies in the different seasons of the year, digestibility test, voluntary intake and animal performance.
The increase of yield in green biomass and dry matter (figure 1) is very link to the plant growing and developing, above all to the increase of the stems proportion. These results coincide with Arias et al. (2018)Arias, R.C., Ledea, J.L., Benítez, D.G., Ray, J. V. & Ramírez De La Ribera, J.L. 2018. Performance of new varieties of Cenchrus purpureus, tolerant to drought, during dry period. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 52(2): 1–12, ISSN: 2079-3480. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1930/193060591010/193060591010.pdf. whose when evaluating the different Cenchrus purpureus cultivars notified for CT-115 the production of 5.78 tGM.ha-1 and 1.5 tDM.ha-1 up to 150 days, similar values reported Pérez Ramos et al. (2021)Pérez Ramos, P., Villegas Aparicio, Y., Castro Rivera, R., Castañeda Hidalgo, E., Gómez Vázquez, A. & Carrillo Rodríguez, J.C. 2021. Crecimiento de ecotipos de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach) Morrone en condiciones de temporal. Revista Fitotecnia Mexicana, 44(4A): 765 – 772, ISSN: 0187-7380. https://doi.org/10.35196/rfm.2021.4-A.765. and Villanueva Avalos et al. (2022)Villanueva Avalos, J.F., Vázquez González, A. & Quero Carrillo, A.R. 2022. Atributos agronómicos y producción de forraje en ecotipos de Cenchrus purpureus en condiciones de trópico subhúmedo. Revista mexicana de ciencias agrícolas, 13(SPE27): 1-9, ISSN: 2007-0934. https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v13i27.3147. with productions of 4-5 tGM.ha-1 and 1.4-1.8 tDM.ha-1 in regions of the dry tropic and dry seasons, respectively although Uvidia et al. (2015)Uvidia, H., Ramírez, J., Vargas, J., Leonard, I. & Sucoshañay, J. 2015. Rendimiento y calidad del Pennisetum purpureum vc Maralfalfa en la Amazonía ecuatoriana. REDVET. Revista Electrónica de Veterinaria, 16 (6): 1-5, ISSN: 1695-7504. http://www.veterinaria.org/revistas/redvet/n060615.html. find high biomass production in the Ecuadorean Amazonia with 80 tGM.ha-1 in Maralfalfa variety, likewise, Retureta-González et al. (2019)Retureta González, C.O.R., Corrales, C.R.P., Zubiaur, R.O.M., Murillo, V.E.V., Escandón, R.S.G. & Lagunes, M.M. 2019. Efecto del riego sobre la calidad, desarrollo y producción de biomasa a dos edades de corte en Cenchrus purpureus vc. CT-115, para la región central del estado de Veracruz. Avances en Investigación Agropecuaria, 23(1): 41-48, ISSN: 2638-1716. http://ojs.ucol.mx/index.php/agropecuaria/article/view/176. reported a production of 15 tDM.ha-1 of CT-115 under irrigation conditions, while, Reyes-Castro et al. (2018)Reyes Castro, S., Enríquez Quiroz, J.F., Hernández Garay, A., Esqueda Esquivel, V.A. & Gutiérrez Arenas, D.A. 2018. Rendimiento de seis cultivares de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone con potencial para producción de bioetanol. Agroproductividad, 11(5): 56-61, ISSN: 2594-0252, https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/2020301534.7. informed production of 18 tDM.ha-1 in dry seasons in Veracruz, México for the bioethanol production.
The difference in the regrowth age for grazing and forage production lies in that for bioethanol production is needed the high accumulation of structural carbohydrates (cellulose and hemicelluloses) and polyphenolic compounds (lignin) hence their optimum cut age be between ages of 100-120 days, while for the animal production this one range about the 60 days for grazing and 90 days when it is used as forage. The above reaffirms that for low rainfalls regions the results of this research are in the range of reported values, the differences find are due to the rains levels, irrigation use, cut age and productive purposes.
On the other hand, Herrera (2022)Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005. under rain conditions and in the west of Cuba reported a production of 12 tDM.ha-1; this performance is due to the different edaphoclimatic conditions of each region. To highlight, that the studies which informed the highest yields reported precipitations from 700 to 4000 mm.year-1 in comparison with rainfalls from 200 to 430 mm.year-1, being conditions responsible of the marked differences find from the productive point of view among regions of the humid and dry tropic in Latin American and the Caribbean in terms of climatology. This response is due according to Ledea Rodríguez et al. (2017)Ledea Rodríguez, J.L., Benítez, D.G., Pérez, A., Crucito, R. & Guerra Manso, A. 2017. Comportamiento agronómico de cultivares de Cenchrus purpureus tolerantes a la salinidad. Revista de Producción Animal, 29(3): 18-28, ISSN: 2224–7920, http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rpa/v29n3/rpa04317.pdf. to the compensation of the photosynthetic system to potentiate the growing; the water molecules contribute the necessary hydrogen to form the carbonate skeleton and produce the structural and non-structural carbohydrates (Herrera 2022Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005.), effect that favors high growing and developing, with high photosynthetic efficiency.
The decrease of cell content and increase of the cell wall components (table 3) is exclusive of these forage species, since the stems proportion, leaves biomass, dry matter and plant maturity directly influence on the proportion of the cell wall components (Ledea et al. 2021Ledea, J.L., La O León, O., Verdecia Acosta, D., Benítez Jiménez, D.G. & Hernández Montiel, L.G. 2021. Composición química-nutricional de rebrotes de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone durante la estación lluviosa. Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems, 24(54): 1-13, ISSN: 1870-0462. https://doi.org/10.56369/tsaes.3522.). Besides of these intrinsic factors of each species, those considered as abiotics (temperature, rains and light intensity, among others) also contributes to the variability and growing of the cell wall, which modify their components and dimensions (Arias et al. 2019Arias, R.C., Reyes, J.J., Ledea, J.L., Benítez, D.G., Ray, J. V. & Hernández, L.G. 2019. Respuesta agroproductiva de nuevas variedades de Cenchrus purpureus. Tropical and subtropical Agroecosistems, 22: 79–86, ISSN: 1870-0462. https://doi.org/10.56369/tsaes.2778.). Moreover, during the plant growing is made worse the deposition of structural carbohydrates as the cellulose that participate in the defense secondary mechanisms to achieve stress tolerance (Ledea et al. 2018aLedea, J.L., Ray Ramírez, J.V., Arias Pérez, R.C., Cruz Tejeda, J.M., Rosell Alonso, G. & Reyes Pérez, J.J., 2018a. Comportamiento agronómico y productivo de nuevas variedades de Cenchrus purpureus tolerantes a la sequía. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 29(2): 343-362, ISSN: 2215-3608. https://doi.org/10.15517/ma.v29i2.29107.). In this sense, Chupin et al. (2020)Chupin, L., Soccalingame, L., de Ridder, D., Gineau, E., Mouille, G., Arnoult, S., Brancourt Hulmel, M., Lapierre, C., Vincent, L., Mija, A., Corn, S., Le Moigne, N. & Navard, P. 2020. Thermal and dynamic mechanical characterization of miscanthus stem fragments: Effects of genotypes, positions along the stem and their relation with biochemical and structural characteristics. Industrial Crops and Products, 156(January): 112863, ISSN: 1872-633X. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112863. reported that the nutrients content in the soil (mainly N, P and K) and fertilization promote the growing and developing of forages and therefore NDF and ADF deposition.
In accordance with the concentration and independent distribution of carbohydrates, Habte et al. (2020)Habte, E., Muktar, M.S., Abdena, A., Hanson, J., Sartie, A.M., Negawo, A.T., Machado, J.C., da Silva Ledo, F.J. & Jones, C.S. 2020. Forage performance and detection of marker trait associations with potential for napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus) improvement. Agronomy, 10(4): 1-29, ISSN: 2073-4395. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10040542. showed that for immature plants the cellulose contents and non-cellulosic compounds fluctuate between 25 and 60 %; while in the matures has 38 % of cellulose, 43 % of no-structural polysaccharides and 17 % of lignin. The obtained results (table 3) in this research show that considering the content of cellulose (34.95 %) and lignin (4.45 %), these plants are catalogue as immature. According to Sosnowski et al. (2017)Sosnowski, J., Matsyura, A., Jankowksi, K. & Przytuła, M. 2017. Cell wall fractions in the biomass of Dactylis glomerata and Festuca pratensis. Ukrainian Journal of Ecology, 7(1): 66–70, ISSN: 2520-2138, https://doi.org/10.15421/20179. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/cell-wall-fractions-in-the-biomass-of-dactylis-glomerata-and-festuca-pratensis. notified that there is a high variability among species and varieties from a same genus as response to the environmental conditions of each region in terms of the deposition of supporting tissue in the stems, cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin and silica in the cell wall of leaves.
The growing and the morphological development of meadow species provides increase of the productivity, but the increases of structural carbohydrates and polyphenols with the plant maturity directly influence on their quality (table4) hence the nutritive contribution is affected. Similar results reported Ledea et al. (2018b)Ledea, J.L., Verdecia Acosta, D., Ray Ramírez, J.V., La O León, O., Reyes Pérez, J.J. & Murillo Amado, B. 2018b. Caracterización química de nuevas variedades de Cenchrus purpureus tolerantes a la sequía. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 29(3): 655-672, ISSN: 2215-3608. https://doi.org/10.15517/ma.v29i3.32910. who showed that the morphological and structural components of forages and the agronomical performance directly influence on the proportion of leaves and stems, digestibility and energy contribution. In this sense, De Dios León et al. (2022)De Dios León, G.E., Ramos Juárez, J.A., Izquierdo Reyes, F., Joaquín Torres, B.M. & Meléndez Navas, F. 2022. Comportamiento productivo y valor nutricional del pasto Pennisetum purpureum cv Cuba CT-115, a diferente edad de rebrote. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Pecuarias, 13(4): 1055-1066, ISSN: 2448-6698. https://doi.org/10.22319/rmcp.v13i4.5217. reported that the morphological component favors the degradability of the fractions of DM and OM, according to the type and distribution of the cells that determines the percentage of the digestible, little digestible and totally indigestible.
The decrease of the DMD and OMD with the increase in cut age is due, possibly, to the higher proportion of stems and lower of leaf at 90 days, this performance was described by González Blanco et al. (2018)González Blanco, J.L., González Paneque, O., Puertas Arias, A., Machado Castillo, J. & Miranda Cabrera, I. 2018. Rendimiento en dos cultivares de Pennisetum purpureum Schumach a diferentes dosis de fertilización orgánica y mineral. Revista Arbitrada Interdisciplinaria de Ciencias de la Educación, Turismo, Ciencias Sociales y Económicas, Ciencias del Agro y Mar y Ciencias Exactas y aplicadas, 3(6): 96-108, ISSN: 2542-3088. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7062680., Ledea et al. (2021)Ledea, J.L., La O León, O., Verdecia Acosta, D., Benítez Jiménez, D.G. & Hernández Montiel, L.G. 2021. Composición química-nutricional de rebrotes de Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone durante la estación lluviosa. Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems, 24(54): 1-13, ISSN: 1870-0462. https://doi.org/10.56369/tsaes.3522. and de Dios León et al. (2022)De Dios León, G.E., Ramos Juárez, J.A., Izquierdo Reyes, F., Joaquín Torres, B.M. & Meléndez Navas, F. 2022. Comportamiento productivo y valor nutricional del pasto Pennisetum purpureum cv Cuba CT-115, a diferente edad de rebrote. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Pecuarias, 13(4): 1055-1066, ISSN: 2448-6698. https://doi.org/10.22319/rmcp.v13i4.5217., who observed high DM concentration and consequently NDF and ADF, with the forage maturity (90 days of regrowth age) due to the high proportion of stems that increase the lignocelluloses structure, which directly affects their digestibility, contribution of forage energy and use efficiency in the production systems in the tropic.
The digestibility percentages and energy values obtained in this study are in the range reported in the international literature for the different grasses forages. Álvarez Perdomo et al. (2017)Álvarez Perdomo, G.R., Barba Capote, C., Velasco Martínez, A.E., Samaniego Armijos, M.C., Jacho Macías, T.E., Muñoz Cornejo, J.A., Fernández Corrales, C.A., Ramírez de la Ribera, J.L., Zambrano Cuadro, N.G. & Chacón Marcheco, E. 2017. La especie Cenchrus purpureus una alternativa para la producción de forraje. REDVET. Revista Electrónica de Veterinaria, 18(4): 1-10, ISSN: 1695-7504, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.homeo.2017.04.006. http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=63651265006., Méndez Martínez et al. (2020)Méndez Martínez, Y., Reyes Pérez, J.J., Luna Murillo, R.A., Verdecia, D.M., Espinoza Coronel, A.L., Pincay-Ronquillo., W.J., Espinosa-Cunuhay, K.A., Macías-Pettao, R.K., & Herrera, R.S. 2020. Effect of climate area on yield and quality of three varieties of Megathyrsus maximus. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 54(2): 1-12, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://cjascience.com/index.php/CJAS/article/view/956., Reyes Pérez et al. (2020)Reyes Pérez, J.J., Méndez Martínez, Y. Luna Murillo, R.A., Verdecía, D.M., Espinoza Coronel, A.L., Pincay Ronquillo, W.J., Espinosa Cunuhay, K.A., Macías Pettao, R.K. & Herrera, R.S. 2020. Yield and bromatological composition of three Brachiaria varities in two areas of Ecuador. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 54(3): 413-424, ISSN: 2079-3480. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/6537/653767640012/653767640012.pdf. and Herrera (2022)Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005. when evaluating varieties of Brachiaria, Megathyrsus and Cenchrus did not reported differences in digestibility and energy with values higher than 47 % and 6 MJ.kgDM-1, respectively and informed that the main effect is due to the high increase of the cellular components of the plant according to the species and variety as the forage maturity advance.
Table 5 shown that the minerals concentration decreased with the growing of the CT-115 grass, at 30 cutting days was observed the higher content of total ashes (17.66 %) and at 45 days, the most evaluated minerals showed the highest concentration, with emphasis in Mn, Fe, Zn, this effect was reported by Santiago et al. (2016)Santiago Figueroa, I., Lara Bueno, A., Miranda Romero, L. A., Huerta Bravo, M., Krishnamurthy, L. & Muñoz González, J. C. 2016. Chemical and mineral composition of leucaena associated with star grass during the rainy season. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas, 7(SPE16): 3173-3183, ISSN: 2007-9230. https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v0i16.387. https://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/remexca/v7nspe16/2007-0934-remexca-7-spe16-3173-en.pdf., who found a reduction of the mineral content with the grasses age. In this sense, Muñoz González et al. (2014)Muñoz González, J.C., Huerta Bravo, M., Rangel Santos, R., Lara Bueno, A. & De la Rosa Arana, J.L. 2014. Evaluación mineral de forrajes del trópico húmedo mexicano. Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems. 17: 285–287, ISSN: 1870-0462. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/939/93931761018.pdf., notified that during the rainy season the grasses change the mineral content of their leaves due to the metabolic rate increase the due to the growing and yield in aerial biomass. Fortes et al. (2019)Fortes, D., Herrera, R. S., García, M., Cruz, A. M. & Romero, A. 2019. Mineral composition of Cenchrus purpureus cv. Cuba CT-115, as biomass bank, after grazing. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 53(4): 425-435, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/cjas/v53n4/2079-3480-cjas-53-04-425.pdf. reported a concentration of Ca, P and Mg of 0.55-0.70 %, 0.21-0.27 % and 0.29-0.37 %, respectively at 45 days of cut age in CT-115.
Also, Valenciaga et al. (2009)Valenciaga, D., Chongo, B., Herrera, R.S., Torres, V., Oramas, A., Cairo, J.G., & Herrera, M. 2009. Effect of regrowth age on the chemical composition of Cenchrus purpureus cv. CUBA CT-115. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 43(1): 71-76, ISSN: 2079-3480. found that the regrowth age had few influence on the Ca concentration in CT-115. However, other studies showed that concentrations higher than 0.30 % of Ca (dry base) in this plant promotes the harden action of the cell wall (Herrera 2022Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005.). Likewise, Domínguez et al. (2012)Domínguez, T.G., Ramírez, R.G., Estrada, A.E., Scott, L.M., González, H. & Alvarado, M.D.S. 2012. Importancia nutrimental en plantas forrajeras del matorral espinoso tamaulipeco. Ciencia UANL, 15(59): 77-93, ISSN: 2007-1175. http://eprints.uanl.mx/2721/1/11ArticuloMatorraloso.pdf. reported that concentrations higher than 0.2 % in P (dry base) at tissue level are considered adequate values for the nutrition of ruminants animals. Considering, the variations of the content of this mineral (table 5) is recommended the use of phosphoric fertilization to the soil for replacing the possible deficiency in the plant (Fortes et al. 2019Fortes, D., Herrera, R. S., García, M., Cruz, A. M. & Romero, A. 2019. Mineral composition of Cenchrus purpureus cv. Cuba CT-115, as biomass bank, after grazing. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 53(4): 425-435, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/cjas/v53n4/2079-3480-cjas-53-04-425.pdf.).
The Mg concentration find in CT-115 (0.09-0.12 %) was lower to those reported by Valenciaga et al. (2009)Valenciaga, D., Chongo, B., Herrera, R.S., Torres, V., Oramas, A., Cairo, J.G., & Herrera, M. 2009. Effect of regrowth age on the chemical composition of Cenchrus purpureus cv. CUBA CT-115. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 43(1): 71-76, ISSN: 2079-3480. and Herrera (2022)Herrera, R.S. 2022. Evaluation of Cenchrus purpureus varieties tolerant to drought in the western region of Cuba. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 56(2): 135-143, ISSN: 2079-3480. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2079-34802022000200005., apparently the concentration of this mineral (Mg) in the soil of this study (186 mg.kg-1) influenced on this results, the authors showed concentrations higher than 260 mg.kg-1 of Mg in the soil. Although there is contradictions in the requirements of this mineral (Mg) in the ruminant animals, it is knowing that it take part in the photosynthesis activity, hydrogen transport and participate in the production of organic fatty acids (Da Costa Leite et al. 2019Da Costa Leite, R., dos Santos, J. G., Silva, E.L., Alves, C.R., Hungria, M., Leite, R.D.C. & dos Santos, A.C. 2018. Productivity increase, reduction of nitrogen fertilizer use and drought-stress mitigation by inoculation of Marandu grass (Urochloa brizantha) with Azospirillum brasilense. Crop and Pasture Science, 70(1): 61-67, ISSN: 1836-5795. https://doi.org/10.1071/CP18105.).
There are contradictions on the necessities of the micro minerals in ruminants due to that many multifactorial elements can alter the absorption and use, in general way, the traces minerals participate in the protein synthesis, vitamins metabolism, in the formation of the connecting tissue and in the immunity functions (Spears et al. 2022Spears, J.W., Brandao, V.L.N. & Heldt, J. 2022. Invited Review: Assessing trace mineral status in ruminants, and factors that affect measurements of trace mineral status. Applied Animal Science, 38(3): 252-267, ISSN: 2590-2873. https://doi.org/10.15232/aas.2021-02232.). Therefore, to know the micro mineral composition contributes with the formation of nutritious nucleus appropriate to the study zones and the animal’s needs.
The content of micronutrients in the forage is affected by many factors; one of the most important is the geographical location. In temperate climate has been find contents of Fe, Zn and Cu in meadows of Lolium perenne, which were insufficient to cover the dairy cattle requirements; while the Na concentrations were higher to the normal level. In turn, in an area of semidesert, the Fe was finding in the forages in sufficient amounts to satisfy the requirements of bovines from meat breed in grazing. However, the forages were few deficient in Na, Zn and Cu. In the tropical zone is frequent to find lack of P in meadows of common Buffel grazing by growing meat bovines, which is why the authors recommend to complementing during the year, in turn the Cu and Mn should only be complemented during the dry season (Guerrero et al. 2020Guerrero, M.D.C., Sousa, T.R.D., Oliveira, S.A.D., Caldeira, R.R. & Pelá, A. 2020. Productivity and quality of Mombasa grass under fertilization with pig deep-litter and NPK. Revista Brasileira de Engenharia Agrícola e Ambiental, 24: 437-443, ISSN: 1807-1929. https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-1929/agriambi.v24n7p437-443.).
Cabrera Torres et al. (2009)Cabrera Torres, E.J., Sosa Rubio, E.E., Castellanos Ruelas, A.F., Gutiérrez Baeza, Á.O., & Ramírez Silva, J.H. 2009. Comparación de la concentración mineral en forrajes y suelos de zonas ganaderas del estado de Quintana Roo, México. Veterinaria México, 40(2): 167-179, ISSN: 0301-5092. https://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/vetmex/v40n2/v40n2a6.pdf. when evaluating the content of microelements in different zones from Quintana Roo, México notified abundance of Fe and Mn in the forages sampled in the three areas and coincide with high content of these minerals in the respective soils. In turn, the content of Zn and Cu in the soil (middle levels) was contrary to those find in the forages in which low contents are reported. When analyzing the effect of the type of forage, Fe concentrations higher than critical levels of 50 mg.kg-1 were found, the amount of Mn was low of 40 mg.kg-1 in five of the collected forages (B. brizantha, C. nlemfuensis, C. purpureus, M. maximus and B. humidicola). As for Zn and Cu, it was found that all the average values were down of the critical level (30 and 10 mg.kg-1, respectively). The low values of Zn and Cu are linked to the metabolic functions of these ones in the plant, the way they are in the soil (inaccessible for the plant) and their relationship with the Fe and negative interaction of Fe and acid pH on the absorption of Cu and Zn (Villalobos and González 2018Villalobos, L.V. & González, J.S. 2018. Contenido macro y micromineral del pasto reygrass (Lolium spp.) en la zona alta de Cartago, Costa Rica. Nutrición animal Tropical, 12(2): 1-19, ISSN: 1409-3553. https://doi.org/10.15517/nat.v12i2.34927.).
Conclusions
⌅This study is part of the first report on the chemical composition, digestibility, and energy of Cenchrus purpureus Morrone cv. Cuba CT-115 under the edaphoclimatic conditions of Honduras, where the characteristic behavior of the species was observed with an increase in yield, morphological components, and cell wall with increasing age of regrowth; while, the concentration of proteins, minerals, cellular content, digestibility, and energy contribution decreased with the maturity of the plant. Thus, the adaptability of this cultivar to different ecosystems is reaffirmed. Thereby, it is recommended to carry out other investigations under different edaphoclimatic conditions in Honduras to elucidate adaptability and its influence on growth and nutritional quality according to cutting age.