ACÚMULO DE MASSA DOS COMPONENTES FORRAGEIROS E CARACTERÍSTICAS DE DIFERENTES CULTIVARES DE BRAQUIÁRIA

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the structural and productive characteristics of different cultivars of Brachiaria spp. as a function of the period of growth in a region of Goiás cerrado in order to determine the point of maximum leaf blade accumulation that determines the quality of the forage. The experiment was conducted in the IF Goiano - Campus Ceres Agrostological Field with a randomized block design using 6 plots subdivided into 5 weekly synchronized cutting intervals (every 7 days), totaling 30 experimental units with 3 replications. Brachiaria cultivars used were Marandu, MG4-Vitória, MG5-Xaraés, BRS Piatã, BRS Paiaguás and BRS Ipyporã. At the end of synchronization, we evaluated: green mass production, dry mass content, dry mass production, leaf blade weight, pseudholm weight, leaf blade ratio and canopy height. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and means compared by Tukey test. Intensive management in tropical pastures has been based on exploiting the high growth rates of forage grasses during the rainy season, providing an increase in pasture stocking rate with consequent increase in yield per area.