Advanced search
Start date
Betweenand
Related content
(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Seasonal herbage accumulation and canopy characteristics of novel and standard brachiariagrasses under N fertilization and irrigation in southeastern Brazil

Full text
Author(s):
Lara, Marcio A. S. [1] ; Silva, Valdson J. [2] ; Sollenberger, Lynn E. [3] ; Pedreira, Carlos G. S. [4]
Total Authors: 4
Affiliation:
[1] Fed Univ Lavras UFLA, Dept Zootecnia, BR-37200000 Lavras, MG - Brazil
[2] Fed Rural Univ Pernambuco UFRPE, Dept Zootecnia, BR-52171900 Recife, PE - Brazil
[3] Univ Florida, Agron Dept, Gainesville, FL 32611 - USA
[4] Univ Sao Paulo ESALQ USP, Dept Zootecnia, Luiz de Queiroz Coll Agr, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 4
Document type: Journal article
Source: CROP SCIENCE; v. 61, n. 2 DEC 2020.
Web of Science Citations: 0
Abstract

Understanding seasonal changes in herbage accumulation (HA) and canopy characteristics of tropical grasses aids management of forage-livestock systems and optimizes use of novel cultivars in traditional and integrated systems. The objective of this study was to describe and explain seasonal HA and canopy characteristics of three standard brachiariagrass cultivars in southeastern Brazil under conditions of N fertilization and irrigation: `Basilisk' signalgrass {[}Brachiaria decumbens (Stapf.); syn. Urochloa decumbens (Stapf) R. D. Webster]; two commercially released palisadegrass {[}B. brizantha (Hochst. Ex A. Rich.) Stapf.; syn. U. brizantha (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) R. D. Webster] cultivars, Marandu and Xaraes; and unreleased selections of palisadegrass, Arapoty and Capipora. Grass plots were mechanically harvested every 28 d during the warm season and every 42 d during the cool season to 15-cm stubble starting in September 2005 and ending in September 2008. Capipora and Xaraes were the most productive (15.6 and 14.6 Mg dry matter {[}DM] ha(-1), respectively) despite having greater seasonality of growth. Arapoty did not show advantages over the cultivars Basilisk and Marandu, with similar total annual HA (similar to 11 Mg DM ha(-1)). Arapoty and Basilisk forage averaged 50% more stems than the other grasses in the warm season. Leaf area index (LAI) and light interception (LI) at harvest did not vary among grasses in Year 1, with an average of 3.1 and 90.3%, respectively, and were generally greater for Marandu in Year 2. Capipora and Xaraes are options for intensive pasture-based livestock production systems and for pasture diversification in tropical areas because of their good HA with great leaf proportion. (AU)