@article{Villalobos Villalobos_WingChing-Jones_2020, title={African Stargrass, Kikuyograss and Ryegrass in Cartago, Costa Rica: biomass, field composition and nutrients}, volume={12}, url={https://revistas.uned.ac.cr/index.php/cuadernos/article/view/2811}, DOI={10.22458/urj.v12i1.2811}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Introduction</strong>: Forage is the main feedstuff for dairy cattle and its quality and biomass define optimal nutritional balances. <strong>Objectives</strong>: To evaluate the biomass, botanical composition, and crude protein, neutral detergent fiber and digestibility of Stargrass, Kikuyugrass and perennial Ryegrass with 30, 30, and 38 days of regrowth, respectively, located in the foothills of Irazu volcano, Costa Rica. <strong>Methods</strong>: We collected forage samples in paddocks 1-2 days before grazing from June 2016 through July 2017, 20 samples in each forage. We estimated biomass by using a visual assessment technique and separated each sample in three subsamples for nutritional analyses, number of leaves per tiller, and botanical composition. <strong>Results:</strong> We found greater allowance (kg DM/cow/paddock), protein, and digestible fiber in Stargrass. We found no significant differences in nutrients between Kikuyu and Ryegrass. We used four groups to classify the plant cover in the paddocks. The main species of grass varied between 50-99% while other grasses represented 0-36 % of the plant cover. The percent of weeds and legumes were 0-7,5% and 0-15% in the paddocks, respectively. We found that senescent material could represent up to 46% in some of the paddocks. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The botanical composition in the paddocks had no effect on the nutritional value of the three grasses.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p>}, number={1}, journal={UNED Research Journal}, author={Villalobos Villalobos, Luis and WingChing-Jones, Rodolfo}, year={2020}, month={Mar.}, pages={e2811} }