Water footprint, herbage, and livestock responses for nitrogen-fertilized grass and grass-legume grazing systems

Replacing N fertilizer with forage legumes may increase sustainability of grazing systems. The objectives were to evaluate herbage and animal responses and to quantify the water footprint associated with beef production in N-fertilized grass or grass-legume systems during 4 yr under continuous stocking. The three year-round forage systems were: Grass+N which included N-fertilized bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flugge) during summer which was overseeded with N-fertilized cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) and oat (Avena sativa L.) during winter; Grass+Clover included bahiagrass without N fertilizer during summer which was overseeded with rye, oat, and a mixture of clovers (Trifolium spp.) during winter; and Grass+Clover+RP included rhizoma peanut (Arachis glabrata Benth.)-bahiagrass mixture during summer which was overseeded with a similar rye-oat-clover mixture as for Grass+Clover. Clover inclusion improved uniformity of herbage distribution throughout the winter. Including rhizoma peanut increased cattle average daily gain (ADG) by 74% during summer. The ADG in Grass+Clover+RP was 0.61 kg d(-1) compared with 0.35 kg d(-1) on Grass+N and Grass+Clover. The water footprint during summer was less in Grass+Clover+RP than Grass+Clover (18 and 25 m(3) kg(-1) bodyweight, respectively). Gain per area (GPA) was similar across all treatments through the year, indicating similar productivity in grass-legume and N-fertilized grass systems. The N-fertilizer inputs were reduced from 224 to 34 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1) in Grass+Clover+RP, compared to Grass+N. Inclusion of rhizoma peanut and clovers contributes to developing sustainable grazing systems with reduced levels of off-farm inputs.