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Submeridional Lowlands region is a large area covering 5 millions of hectare in Santa Fe, Chaco and Santiago del Estero provinces. Extensive cattle raising is the most important economic activity in the Submeridional Lowlands region. The main constraints of forage production are soil salinity and alternating flooding and drying cycles. Preserving grasslands that support commercial beef cattle production and the use of native and naturalized forage species to increase quantity and quality of forage become necessary. The flora of Submeridional Lowlands region contains a significant number of species that must be considered as forage genetic resources. This work examines different aspects to consider in breeding programs of native and naturalized forage species in the Submeridional Lowland Region. References about the identification and characterization of promissory species are scarce. We propose a list the native y naturalized species, which in our opinion, are important forage genetic resources. We discuss criteria of prioritization of the forage species in breeding programs and review successful examples of use of native and naturalized forage genetic resources in Argentina. We highlight keys aspects related with the interdisciplinary works, parti- cipatory plant breeding and public funding needs for conservation of native and naturalized plant genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted in order to characterize the productive indicators of a commercial dairy unit, in a livestock production enterprise of the Matanzas province, Cuba. The unit had a total area of 80,83 ha, from which 2,66 ha consisted in sugarcane; 12,6 ha had king grass and 60,04 ha were for grazing. This last one was divided into 49 paddocks (1,6 ha per paddock, approximately) and the real stocking rate was 1,7 LAU/ha. The dry matter availability of the pastures was determined with a monthly frequency, as well as the measurement of milk production on the 100 % of the milking cows to elaborate the retrospective feeding balances per group. No significant differences were found among the availability values (between 1,6 and 2,5 t DM/ha/rotation). Significant differences were detected (p < 0,001) between the milk production average in July-August and September-October (9,5 and 10,0 kg/animal/day, respectively) with regards to March-April and January-February (6,6 and 7,8 kg/animal/day, respectively). In the other bimesters, the cows showed moderate milk productions, without statistical differences. It is concluded that, although the pasture availability was low throughout the year, the use of concentrate feeds allowed to obtain adequate milk productions, with the best productive responses in September-October and July-August. To make transformations in the feeding basis of the unit is recommended in order to increase the dry matter availability in the pastureland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]