Economic performance of production systems with crop-livestock integration in no-tillage systems

Abstract

Adopting wheat that has additional aptitudes to the only function of grain production in crop-livestock integration systems may be an economical alternative for better using the vast expanse of farmland during the autumn-winter period in southern Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate economically the crop-livestock integration (CLI) system, in comparison to systems of grain production only. The treatments consisted of six CLI systems, containing either annual winter pasture, soil cover or dualpurpose cereals: system I (wheat/soybean and vetch/maize); system II (wheat/soybean and black oat/maize pasture); system III (wheat/soybean and black oat/soybean pasture); system IV (wheat/soybean and pea/maize); system V (wheat/soybean, dualpurpose triticale/soybean and vetch/soybean); and system VI (wheat/soybean, dual-purpose white oat/soy and dual-purpose wheat/ soybean). The treatments were repeated four times in the randomized block design. Calculation of the operational cost and net return of the production systems followed the technical coefficient matrix of the experiment and the prices of inputs and machines from the cultivation year, based on the 2016 market . Systems II and III, which had annual winter pastures, were more profitable than systems I and IV, with legume cover cropping. System VI, with white oat and double-purpose wheat, demonstrated a higher economic return when compared to the system V, with triticale. Overall, system II stood out due to its higher net return.