Innovative improvements of silvopastoral systems applied to the Brachiaria decumbens yields in degraded areas – A case study in Orellana, Amazonian Ecuador

Published 2025-07-08
Keywords
- Silvopastoral systems,
- livestock precision,
- Equator amazon,
- small livestock
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2025 Armando Vinicio Paredes-Peralta, Santiago Alexander Guamán Rivera, Sandra Elizabeth Suárez Cedillo, Sandra Isabel Castañeda Caguana, Dina Maricela Veloz-Veloz, María Fernanda Baquero-Tapia, Myriam Valeria Ruiz Salgado, Diego Fabian Maldonado Arias

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Climate change is a global, recurring phenomenon that is altering weather patterns around the world. The corresponding changes have significant implications for natural ecosystems, agriculture, and livestock. Based on this context, we realized a study, which assessed the effect of silvopastoral systems on Brachiaria decumbens yields. Therefore, we realized a completely randomized block design with three replications for each treatment. The treatments were of low density of trees/ha (138 ha-1) named SPs1, a high density of trees/ha (312 ha-1) named SPs2, as well as a monoculture system (no trees) only pasture named simply Control. The experimental variables evaluated were forage production, chemical composition and nutrient values. The results yielded variations in the agronomic data by treatment (P < 0.05) and season effects (P = < 0.05). Despite that, all chemical determinations did not change among treatments (P = 0.11 to 0.96) nor for the season effect (P = 0.43 to 0.98). Subsequently, all nutritional values (i.e., energy and protein values) lacked to vary by main effects (P = 0.26 to 0.92). In conclusion, the SPs improved the agronomic responses, which may allow a greater chemical composition and forage quality in the long term. Nevertheless, further long-term studies should be performed in order to confirm and improve the given results of the current study.
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