An experiment wasconducted to evaluate the quality of the differed pasture of Brachiaria decumbensunder grazing in the dry season. Samples were collected by the total harvesting(TH), hand-plucking sample (HPS) and Extrusa (EXT) collected using four Holstein-Zebusteers, with esophageal fistula. The samples were analysed for dry matter content(DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), mineral matter (MM), total (TC)and non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), neutraldetergent fiber corrected for ash and protein (NDFap), acid detergent fiber(ADF), insoluble acid detergent fiber (iADF), lignin and in vitro drymatter digestibility (IVDMD). TH was superior (P<0,05) in DM, TC, NDf, NDFap,ADF, iADF and lignin contents. These observations reflected the low IVDMD forTA. The EXT and HPS did not differ on CP, EE, NFC, NDF, NDFap, ADF, iADF, ligninand IVDMD. The CP content were 5.60 and 6.50 and the ones of NDF were 71.87e 71.70, respectively to EXT and HPS. These results indicate that the sampleHPS, in comparasion with sample TH, would better represent those diet selectedby grazing animals.
