CULTIVARES DE MILHO VERDE IRRIGADO POR PIVÔ CENTRAL CULTIVADO EM DIFERENTES ESPAÇAMENTOS E NÍVEIS DE DESFOLHA EM DOMÍNIO DE CERRADO

Abstract

Green corn is produced and marketed in Goiás by small and medium producers to meet the demand of traditional pamonaria and end consumers. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic performance of two hybrids of green maize under irrigated system, cultivated with different spacing and defoliation levels in the São Paulo Valley region. The experiment was carried out in the experimental area of the Goiano Federal Institute - Campus Ceres, in a central pivot irrigation system, from May to September 2016. AG 1051 and AG 8677 PRO3 maize hybrids were planted, both from AGROCERES. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with four replications, four row spacings (0.60, 0.70, 0.80 and 0.90 m), two corn hybrids (AG 1051 and AG 8677 PRO3) and five levels (T1: defoliation without leaves, T2: leaves defoliation, T3: defoliation of 2 leaves above the spike, T4: defoliation of 4 leaves above the spike and T5: defoliation of all leaves above the spike). The parameters evaluated were submitted to analysis of variance and the means were compared by the Tukey test with a significance level of 5%. Regression equations were also adjusted according to the spacings and levels of defoliation. The AG 1051 hybrid showed higher production of spikes with straw (9,127.40 kg ha-1) than AG (7,586.71 kg ha-1). It was concluded that, at denser row spacings, regardless of the type of defoliation, the AG 1051 hybrid produced ears with a higher SST content. And the average length of the ears of green corn plants is negatively affected by the occurrence of defoliation at spacings above 0.8 m. The cultivar AG 1051 is superior to the AG 8677 PRO3 cultivar for the agronomic characteristics of green corn destined to the processing for pamonha.