Yield-gap in pasture-based animal production systems in Central-west and Southeast of Brazil (Central Brazil)

• Ano de defesa: 2021
• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Mariely Lopes dos
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Urochloa brizantha; Beef cattle; Forage production; Gado de corte; Global yield gap atlas; Livestock; Long-term production; Pecuária; Produção de forragem; Produção de longo prazo; Stocking rate; Taxa de lotação
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/11/11139/tde-09092021-165205/

The demand for sustainable food production in face of world population growth requires efforts in food security analyzes that evaluate and project the productive potential of the main food chains around the globe. The yield-gap analyzes of Global Yield Gap Atlas (GYGA) has the purpose of identifying the productive potential of the main agricultural crops produced in the world through crop simulation models, in addition to quantifying the differences (gaps) between the potential, attainable and real yields of the main producing countries. However, there are no consolidated protocols for this type of analysis aimed at livestock production. Brazil is among the largest meat producers in the world and most of the Brazilian beef cattle activity has tropical pastures as the main source of food for animals. Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu palisadegrass is the most widely cultivated forage species in the country, mainly in the Central-west and Southeast regions. The use of long- term forage production simulation is important for studies of strategic scenarios, yield-gap predictions, and risk analysis of production losses. However, forage models have only been tested using short period data. In this study, we aimed to adapt GYGA protocols for pasture- based beef cattle livestock systems, using the adaptation of forage models to simulate long- term herbage production, and by using a stocking rate model to predict pasture carrying capacity under different scenarios of management in Central Brazil, in addition to estimate the yield-gaps of pasture-based animal production systems in Southeast and Central-west of Brazil. It possible to estimate yield-gap of pasture-based-beef-cattle production systems in different edaphoclimatic conditions in Brazil, including the Amazon, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest Biomes, through the development of a specific protocol for yield-gap analysis for beef cattle livestock. One of the main contributions of this study was to provide an overview of the livestock production system as a whole, by simulations of long-term forage production and animal stocking rates that consider the annual seasonality of production, due to meteorological factors, and its effect on pastures carrying capacity.