Improving water management with integrated crop-livestock systems in Brazil - the plant perspective

Sarah Glatzle

University of Hohenheim, Institute for Plant Production and Agroecology of the Tropics and Subtropics

in cooperation with EMBRAPA Beef Cattle, Gado de Corte and Fundacao MS, Maracaju, Brazil

Challenges:

The humid subtropical climate of central west Brazil mostly provides sufficient rainfall and adequate temperatures to support year-round rainfed agriculture production with integrated systems.

However, high rainfall variability during the drier winter is increasingly compromising one of the most productive agricultural regions in Brazil. Climate scenarios indicate up to 30% less rainfall during winter and increasing frequency of dry periods within the forthcoming decades.

Information on grass water saving traits for integrated crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems is rare and until now insufficient to estimate the system’s adaptive capacity to temporal water limitations and climate variability or change.

Objectives:

A) Perform chamber-based laboratory experiments to characterize whole plant transpiration response of common cultivated fodder grasses Brachiaria ssp. and Panicum ssp. to atmospheric drought, soil water limitations and shading.

B) Analyze the water (rain) use efficiency in ICLF systems in contrast to conventional livestock farming systems, thereby focusing on the performance of the fodder grasses Brachiaria spp. and Panicum  spp.

C) Analyze growth performance and water use of Brachiaria spp. and  Panicum spp. in factorial field trails. Measurements will include root system studies to analyze productivity and water dynamics from a whole plant perspective.

Expected results:

Information about how ICLF systems affect selected components of the field water balance, thereby focusing on water use of the fodder grasses. 

Information about productivity in relation to water used in order to characterize the system by water use efficiency traits.

Aims:

To contribute to the improved understanding of water dynamics in ICLF systems.

To use the identified water saving and water use efficiency traits of the forage grasses to optimize ICLF systems with regard to sustainability and adaption to climate variability or change.