IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v269y2022ics0378377422002128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the freshwater fluxes related to beef cattle production: A comparison of integrated crop-livestock systems and a conventional grazing system

Author

Listed:
  • Barsotti, Mariana Pereira
  • de Almeida, Roberto Giolo
  • Macedo, Manuel C.M.
  • Laura, Valdemir A.
  • Alves, Fabiana V.
  • Werner, Jessica
  • Dickhoefer, Uta

Abstract

Beef production is one of the largest water consumers of all food production systems, but there are substantial knowledge gaps about the accounting and interpretation of its freshwater consumption. Moreover, hardly any study has assessed the freshwater fluxes related to beef cattle in integrated crop-livestock (ICL) and crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems. We aimed at quantifying the freshwater fluxes related to beef cattle raised on continuous permanent Brachiaria pastures (CON) or in ICL and ICLF systems in the Brazilian Cerrado in the rainy and dry seasons. Evapotranspiration of forage grass, Eucalyptus trees in ICLF, and from drinking water troughs were calculated from meteorological data collected in the field. Forage accumulation was measured in 11 paddocks over both seasons, and forage intake, drinking water intake, and bodyweight were quantified in 12 growing Nellore heifers per system during two months per season. Freshwater fluxes related to forage production and animals were estimated. Drinking water intake and water intake via forage did not differ (P ≥ 0.073) between the systems, and were greater (P ≤ 0.035) in the rainy than the dry season. Faecal and urinary water excretions were greater in the dry than the rainy season (P ≤ 0.005). The respiratory and cutaneous water losses were greater (P < 0.001) in the rainy than the dry season. In the rainy season, evapotranspiration related to forage accumulation and freshwater consumption for raising beef cattle were greatest in CON, whereas they were greatest in ICLF in the dry season. Although ICLF appeared to be less resilient to dry periods, both integrated systems offer the potential for reduced freshwater consumption for raising beef cattle under grazing conditions, by improving the efficiency of forage use and/or decreasing evapotranspiration of forage.

Suggested Citation

  • Barsotti, Mariana Pereira & de Almeida, Roberto Giolo & Macedo, Manuel C.M. & Laura, Valdemir A. & Alves, Fabiana V. & Werner, Jessica & Dickhoefer, Uta, 2022. "Assessing the freshwater fluxes related to beef cattle production: A comparison of integrated crop-livestock systems and a conventional grazing system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:269:y:2022:i:c:s0378377422002128
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107665
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377422002128
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107665?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feldhake, Charles M., 2009. "Forage evapotranspiration and photosynthetically active radiation interception in proximity to deciduous trees," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(7), pages 1170-1174, July.
    2. Eastham, J. & Rose, C. W., 1988. "Pasture evapotranspiration under varying tree planting density in an agroforestry experiment," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 87-105, November.
    3. Sarah Glatzle & Sabine Stuerz & Marcus Giese & Mariana Pereira & Roberto Giolo de Almeida & Davi José Bungenstab & Manuel Claudio M. Macedo & Folkard Asch, 2021. "Seasonal Dynamics of Soil Moisture in an Integrated-Crop-Livestock-Forestry System in Central-West Brazil," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rochford, L.M. & Bulovic, N. & Ordens, C.M. & McIntyre, N., 2023. "What makes them pump? Factors influencing groundwater extraction for cattle grazing in a semi-arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feldhake, Charles M., 2009. "Forage evapotranspiration and photosynthetically active radiation interception in proximity to deciduous trees," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(7), pages 1170-1174, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:269:y:2022:i:c:s0378377422002128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.