Germination of Forage Seeds Through Cattle as a Natural Propagator

Currently, sustainable practices combined with an efficient livestock can have benefits for farmers as observed in this study in which the animals themselves spread the seeds in the pasture in order to promote an addition of forage resources in the canopy. The objective of this study was to evaluate seed germination of three forage species [Avena strigosa Schreb (black oat), Calopogonium mucunoides (calopogonium) and Neonotonia wightii (perennial soybean)] following ingestion by cattle. The feces were collected from the animals at intervals of 6 hours up to 48 hours after the ingestion of the seeds. The feces were placed in beds in the field for further germination studies for the next 30, 60 and 90 days (post-planting periods). No difference (P > 0.05) was observed between the treatments species or between post-planting periods of the evaluation. For all the studied seeds, the germination was only verified in the time of up to 30 days after the placement of the feces in the field, where black oats obtained numerically the highest accumulated percentage (during 48 hours) with 10% of germinated seeds. It is concluded that the use of cattle as a disperser of forage seeds can help in the introduction of new forage in order to improve the production and the quality of the pastures. The moment of the cattle entrance in the pickets will depend on the forage species to be introduced and can vary from 6 to 12 hours after the intake of the seeds.