DESEMPENHO AGRONÔMICO, PRODUÇÃO E QUALIDADE DA SILAGEM DO MILHO, Brachiaria ruziziensis cv. BRS Integra e Cajanus cajan cv. BRS Guatã

Abstract

Current agricultural production faces complex and urgent challenges related to environmental sustainability, climate change and food security of a growing population. In this context, the objective was to elucidate how the synergism between maize, the new cultivars of Brachiaria ruziziensis cv.BRS Integra and pigeon pea cv. BRS Guatã impacts on the agronomic characteristics of crops, yield, silage quality and economic viability of cropping systems. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design, with three replications, in a split-plot scheme, with the plots consisting of seven cropping systems: maize, integra grass and guatã in monoculture; maize intercropped with grass maize intercropped with guatã; Integra grass intercropped with guatã and corn intercropped with integra grass and guatã. The evaluations were carried out during two consecutive years in the same plots, and the evaluation years were considered as subplots. The results revealed that the presence of pigeon pea in the double and triple intercropping favored the development of corn, promoting larger stem diameters, higher chlorophyll contents, ear length, resulting in higher dry matter production. In addition, the integration with the legume promoted protein intake, increasing the crude protein contents of silage compared to the monoculture of corn and integral grass. On the other hand, corn ensured better fermentative stability, maintaining pH at adequate levels and reducing effluent production, dry matter losses and providing higher levels of total digestible nutrients and digestibility, while silages without the cereal showed high losses. The cropping systems involving corn, in the second year of evaluation, were strongly influenced by climatic conditions, which resulted in lower production. In the economic evaluation, the triple intercropping presented the highest costs per hectare, but the higher biomass production resulted in lower cost per kilogram of dry matter compared to single corn, with R$ 0.16 and R$ 0.19 in the two years, respectively, against R$ 0.21 and R$ 0.25 in single corn. It was concluded that the triple intercropping between corn, Integra grass and guatã presented the best joint performance between dry mass production, agronomic characteristics, silage quality and economic indicators, constituting a promising alternative for silage production under the conditions evaluated.