Expansion of hay production and marketing in Brazil

In the last decade, advances in Brazilian hay production showed that the country has the potential to produce bulky dehydrated fodder. For many years, the Brazilian hay production scientific knowledge had been based on temperate climate species, even though the best hay material are tropical grasses, as Tifton 85 Bermudagrass. Researches that focused on the comprehension of yield systems, biochemical processes, physiology, composition, and nutritional quality of tropical species under dehydration and conservation have become important to hay yield in Brazil. Therefore, this literature review aimed to discuss the hay research contribution in tropical conditions and its reflex on the production and commercialization of hay in Brazil. This review was based on database research with key-words defined in a period between 1960 and 2021, which resulted in 33 articles. Each article had the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats classified according to the SWOT matrix. Articles related to the haymaking system with tropical forage and the effects on nutritional value, sanitary quality, and factors that influence the dehydration period in the field and storage were listed in this paper. Based on the literature, the conclusion is that Brazil has elevated hay yield potential with high nutritional and sanitary quality of tropical species due to the weather conditions that allow fast dehydration and, also, the availability of residual wastewater as fertilization and machinery appropriated. Brazilian haymaking and commercialization are in an expansion process with economic return as national and international trade. Further challenges: to obtain a constant annual hay supply and the transport viability to markets distant from the production center.