The objective of the work was evaluate the effect of different sward heights (8.9, 10.0, 11.3, 11.9, 13.4, 13.6, 14.7, and 18.3 cm) of a mixture of black oat cv IAPAR 61 (Avena strigosa Schreb) + field pea (Pisum arvense L.) on the average daily liveweight gain (DLG), weight gain/ha (WGP/ha), stocking rate (animals.day/ha), botanical composition, residue of dry matter and percentage of uncovered soil of the pasture. Steer nelore was used in grazing with variable stocking rate. Maintenance of the sward heights was accomplished through the use of the disk meter, with agreement for animal load, weekly. DLG ranged from .497 to 1.017 kg/ animal/ day, at the heights of 8.9 and 18.3 cm, respectively, presenting linear effect with the increase of the sward height. WGP/ha oscillated between 127 and 356 kg/ha to 8,9 and 18,3 cm of sward height respectively, the stocking rate having varied of 184 to 424 animals.day/ha at heights of 14.7 and 10.0 cm respectively, although the sward height did not affect GPV/ha and in the pasture stocking rate. The plants of field pea marked were not grazing by the animals. The DISK methodology showed that the level of dry matter residue/ha was linearly influenced as sward height increased. The oat remained dominant in the botanical composition of the pasture representing 99.69% of it, and the field pea contributing with 0.31%. The percentage of discovered soil decreased as the sward height increased. These results showed that the residue of DM was higher than 18 cm is important on animal performance and pasture response.
average weight gain; live weight gain; stocking rate; botanical composition; uncovered soil
