The experiment aimed to determine the herbage mass and to evaluate the botanical and chemical composition of a stockpiled Buffelgrass pasture during the dry season. Visual estimates were accomplished for determination of the botanical composition. Samples were cut for forage availability determination. The data were processed by the BOTANAL program. Three esophagus fistulated animals were used to evaluate the quality and botanical composition of the selected diet. On the pasture a total of 10 families, 19 genus and 19 species of plants were observed. The botanical components that showed the highest herbage mass and participation were Buffel grass and "Orelha-de-onça" (Macroptilium martii Benth.), ranging from 1392 to 2750 kg DM/ha and 50% and, 1167 to 1215 kg DM/ha and 30%, respectively. The forage chemical composition ranged from 63.0 to 81.6 %, 3.3 to 5.2 %, 0.9 to 1.4 %, 69.3 to 76.0 %, 53.0 to 57.4 %, 5.2 to 8.9 %, 86.0 to 88.6 % and, 10.8 to 16.4 % for dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), ashes (ASH), total carbohydrates (TCH) and, no fiber carbohydrates (NFC), respectively. Extrusa chemical composition showed values ranging from 18.5 to 22.3 %, 4.5 to 5.6 %, 1.3 to 1.9 %, 52.0 to 75.0 %, 52.3 to 59.8 %, 9.4 to 11.4 %, 81.8 to 84.4 %, 6.8 to 20.6 % and, 45.7 to 49.1 % for DM, CP, EE, NDF, ADF, ASH, TCH, NFC and, "in vitro" dry matter digestibility, respectively.
BOTANAL; Buffel grass; extrusa
