DESEMPENHO MORFOMÉTRICO E PRODUTIVO DE CULTIVARES DE CAPIM ELEFANTE SOBRE DIFERENTES DOSES DE BIOCHA

Abstract

Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) is one of the most productive forages. Increasing forage production is a continuous goal because it is the basis of Brazilian cattle raising. In the cerrado, soil fertility and water availability are limiting factors in forage production. The objective of the work was to evaluate the performance of elephant grass cultivars under different doses of biochar. The experiment was conducted at the Federal Institute of Goiás – Campus Ceres, in a statistical design in randomized blocks (DBC) in factorial scheme (2 x 4), with 2 cultivars (BRS Capiaçu and BRS Kurumi) and 4 doses (0, 8, 16 and 24 Mg ha-1) of biochar, with 4 repetitions. They were evaluated at two different times after biochar application: 225 and 447 days. The attributes evaluated were: plant height (AP), stem diameter (DC), number of leaves (NF), number of tillers (NP), dry matter content (TMS), green matter productivity (PMV) and dry matter productivity (PMS). The data were submitted to analysis of variance (anova). At 225 days, only the AP and NP variables were statistically significant for the cultivar factor. In the evaluation at 447 days the variables AP, NF, TMS and F/C, differed for the cultivar factor. There was no effect of biochar doses. Under the conditions of this study, biochar presented lesser effects than waiting, and should be better studied.