Dietary <i>Bordão‐De‐Velho</i> ( <i>Samanea tubulosa</i> ) Fruit Improves Grazing Beef Cattle Performance

Integrated grass‐tree systems have been proposed to address socio‐ecological challenges in tropical cattle production. Bordão‐de‐velho ( Samanea tubulosa ), a legume tree native to the Amazon, is commonly found in degraded pastures and valued by farmers for its soil, forage, and livestock benefits. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of the dietary addition of bordão‐de‐velho fruit supplementation on intake, digestibility, feeding behaviour, and performance of grazing Nellore heifers. Twenty‐six Nellore heifers (148 ± 25.5 kg of body weight, mean ± SD) were used in two treatments: 1) control (CON): Mombasa grass ( Megathirsus maximus ) pasture without supplementation; and 2) Bordão‐de‐velho (BORD): Mombasa grass pasture plus 5 g dry matter BORD fruits/kg of body weight per day. The trial lasted 63 days (three 21‐day periods). Bordão‐de‐velho did not affect dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), or crude protein (CP) intake ( p ≥ 0.710). However, BORD improved ( p ≤ 0.050) total tract digestibility of DM, OM, and CP and reduced ( p = 0.017) animal activity levels. Additionally, average daily gain increased ( p = 0.003) from 326 to 548 g/day. Thus, BORD enhances nutrient digestibility and growth performance without compromising intake. The findings support using native species to align livestock production with local ecosystems.