Mixture of tropical forage grasses in pastures: resources partitioning and above and below ground strategies for growth

• Grant number: 21/12209-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: October 02, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Pastures and Forage Crops
• Principal Investigator: Sila Carneiro da Silva
• Grantee: Alex Marciano dos Santos Silva
• Supervisor: Louarn Gaetan
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (INRAE Nouvelle-Aquitaine Poitiers), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/26542-0 - Association of forage tropical grasses in pastures: root mass, growth and distribution, morphogenetic characteristics and herbage accumulation dynamics, BP.DR

Abstract

Research from temperate climate regions of the globe indicate that mixed pastures of forage species with complementary growth and development strategies have the potential to provide greater offer of ecosystem services than single-species pastures. In the tropics, there is a wide diversity of forage species with several possibilities of combination in different biomes, which could provide solutions for ensuring sustainable and economic production from pastures. However, information is scarce or even nonexistent, justifying this research internship proposal to be developed in cooperation with an excellence group from the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) in the field of pastoral systems studies as a means to make the best possible use of the original data set being generated at ESALQ/USP. The objectives of the proposal are: i) to allow the candidate to exchange experiences and acquire knowledge and expertise on techniques of research and management of mixed species pastures in temperate climate ecosystems aiming at adaptation and application to tropical conditions; and ii) to allow the candidate to analyze and integrate sets of results from field experiments in Brazil (FAPESP Project number 2019/26542-0) conceived using analogous multidisciplinary techniques commonly used in temperate climate research and the expertise of the host research group at INRAE. As the result of the proposed internship abroad and the results from the candidate´s doctorate degree project, better understanding and knowledge regarding growth and development strategies of tropical forage grass species growing in mixtures may provide valuable information for planning sustainable and functional forage plants associations in pastures. This proposal is a collaboration between ESALQ/USP and Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Prairies et Plantes Fourragères of National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (France), under the joint supervision of Dr. Gaëtan Louarn (France) and Professor Sila Carneiro da Silva (Brazil). (AU)