Microclimate and pasture area preferences by dairy cows under high biodiversity silvopastoral system in Southern Brazil
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Microclimate and pasture area preferences by dairy cows under high biodiversity silvopastoral system in Southern Brazil Matheus Deniz 1,2 & Abdon L. Schmitt Filho 1,2,3 & Maria J. Hötzel 1,4 & Karolini T. de Sousa 1,4 & Luiz C. Pinheiro Machado Filho 1,4 & Paulo A. Sinisgalli 2,5 Received: 8 December 2019 / Revised: 11 July 2020 / Accepted: 23 July 2020 # ISB 2020
Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of microclimate on dairy cows’ behaviors and their preferences for different pasture areas under high biodiversity silvopastoral system (SPSnuclei) in a subtropical climate. We surveyed three different pasture areas under SPSnuclei: shaded area around the nuclei (SAN), unshaded area around the nuclei (UAN), and all-day sunny area distant from the nuclei (SDN). In each area, the microclimatic variables were measured—air temperature (°C), relative humidity (%), illuminance (lux), wind speed (m/s), and soil surface temperature (°C). In addition, the diurnal behaviors of 39 Jersey dairy cows were evaluated. Grazing, standing rest, lying rest, standing rumination, and lying rumination were registered by scans every 10 min; drinking water was observed continuously. Microclimate differed (p < 0.05) among the SPSnuclei areas. Areas around the nuclei provided better conditions of air temperature (SAN, 31.05 °C; UAN, 31.92 °C; SDN, 33.39 °C), illuminance (SAN, 5665 lx; UAN, 61,065 lx; SDN, 75,380 lx), and soil surface temperature (SAN, 27.35 °C; UAN, 32.38 °C; SDN, 35.87 °C). The frequency of use of each SPSnuclei area by dairy cows was different (p < 0.01); the highest frequencies of the grazing (SAN, 12.6%; UAN, 4.8%; SDN, 11.1%), rumination (SAN, 21.7%; UAN, 3.1%; SDN, 1.9%), and rest (SAN, 35.6%; UAN, 5.4%; SDN, 3.7%) were registered in the areas around the nuclei. The microclimate of the high biodiversity silvopastoral system leads the animals to perform grazing, ruminating, and resting preferentially on the areas around the nuclei even with no shade. Keywords Animal welfare . Applied nucleation . Bioclimatology . Ecological restoration . Shaded pasture
Introduction Global temperature increases (Tett et al. 1999) related to anthropogenic actions had intensified in the last century with a negative impacts throughout ecosystems (Steinfeld and * Abdon L. Schmitt Filho [email protected] Matheus Deniz [email protected] Maria J. Hötzel [email protected] Karolini T. de Sousa [email protected]
Wassenaar 2007; Sullivan et al. 2017). Climate change also seems to impact pasture-based animal production mainly due to the adverse effects of the thermal environment (Nardone et al. 2010; Sejian et al. 2018). It was estimated that climate change has caused an up rise in costs of livestock production 1
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Agroecossistemas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil
2
Laboratório de Sistemas Silvipastoris e Restauração Ecológica, Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florian
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