Valor de leguminosas endêmicas para produção pecuária em áreas de Caatinga - DOI:10.5039/agraria.v14i2a5648

Rangelands and other native pastures occupy a large area of the planet, with highly temporal and spatial botanical composition and productivity variability. Despite the continuous and historical use of these areas, including overgrazing and fire exclusion, endemic legume species persist in some semiarid rangelands. Considering the importance of native plants to livestock, our objective was to review current knowledge of legume use, especially those of the Brazilian Caatinga rangeland. Caatinga vegetation of northeastern Brazil consists of deciduous shrubs and small trees which mostly lose their leaves at the beginning of the dry season. The legume family contributes the greatest number of endemic species but little is known about their productivity or nutritive values. For example, livestock select for Orelha de onca [ Macroptilium martii (Benth.) Marechal & Baudet] and Mororo ( Bauhinia cheilantha (Bong.) Steud.) and these should, during rangeland clearing, be preserved. In addition, although Caatinga legumes have high crude protein content, their biological fixation of atmospheric N has yet to be thoroughly studied. On the negative side, some native Caatinga legumes have high levels of neutral detergent fiber-bound N (NDFN) in addition to condensed tannin. As a result, animal performance in Caatinga is often poor, notably in the dry period. Forage legumes also provide various environmental services. Studies that measure the qualitative and quantitative variations of native legumes are essential for the management of food supplementation, to the sustainability of animal production, as well as for economic and environmental improvements in rangelands.