Suchergebnisse

The objective of this study was to evaluate the sample size and area of the quadrats necessary to accurately estimate the forage mass (FM) of a fenced pasture of stargrass (Cynodon nlemfuensis cv. Florico) during the winter. Five metal quadrats were used: a 0.09 m² square (0.30 m side), a 0.25 m2 square (0.50 m side), a 0.25 m2 circle (0.28 m diameter), a 0.5 m2 rectangle (0.5 x 1.0 m), and a 1 m2 square (1.0 m side), each with eight replicates. The size and shape of the quadrats were determined based on cumulative variances to identify combinations that minimized the coefficient of variation (CV). The minimum sample size required to estimate the FM, morphological components and height was established by the CV maximum curvature method. The 0.25 m2 square quadrat (0.5 m side) presented the lowest cumulative CV in estimating the FM and the dry mass of dead material. However, for the estimation of the leaf and stem dry mass, the 1.00 m2 square quadrat (1.00 m side) presented the lowest CV. Using the 0.25 m2 square quadrat, a minimum number of six samples were required for the FM estimation, and eight samples were required for estimating the mean height of the stargrass pasture. Therefore, at least eight samples are recommended to obtain accurate results for the estimation of both variables.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and potassium fertilization on the morphogenetic and structural characteristics and production of Urochloa ruziziensis in two summer seasons (summer 1, 2010–2011and summer 2, 2011–2012) and the autumn and spring of 2011. A randomized complete block design with four treatments (0, 120, 240, and 360 kg ha-1 year-1 of N and K2O) and five replications was used, with repeated measurements in each season, in a split plot arrangement. The treatments were allocated to the plots and the seasons of the year to the subplots. The phyllochron (PHY),leaf appearance rate (LAR), leaf elongation rate (LER), stem elongation rate (SER), tiller population density (TPD), tiller appearance rate (TAR), tiller mortality rate (TMR), leaf growth rate (LGR), stem growth rate (SGR), senescence rate (SR), forage accumulation rate (FAR), and leaf accumulation rate (LAR) of Urochloa ruziziensis were evaluated. There was a positive quadratic effect for the PHY and ELR, with maximum values of 4.3 days leaf-1 and 0.43 cm tiller-1 day-1, respectively. While the SER increased linearly (0.0012 cm day-1 kg-1 of N and K2O) during summer 2. The TPD, TAR, and TMR increased linearly (averages of 1.53 tillers m-2, 0.04% and 0.02% per kg of N and K2O, respectively) with nitrogen and potassium fertilization during spring and both summer seasons. The LGR, SGR, and SR also increased linearly with N and K2O application rates during summer 2 (0.2809, 0.0082, and 0.0411 kg DM ha-1 day-1, per kg of N and K2O, respectively), while the FAR and LAR increased in a quadratic positive form (maximum values of 175 and 129 kg dry matter (DM) ha-1, corresponding to 294 and 237 kg ha-1 of N and K2O, respectively) during summer 2. Urochloa ruziziensis is a forage plant with a high DM production capacity during the summer and a high seasonal forage production.

Under the hypothesis that modifying nitrogen sources and doses could increase nitrogen fertilization efficiency and productivity and improve forage quality, this study aimed to evaluate the morphological composition, structural characteristics and chemical composition of Panicum maximum cv. Massai forage cultivated under different urea sources (common and coated with Policote®) and nitrogen doses (200, 400 and 600 kg ha-1 year-1) during the autumn, winter and spring of 2014 and the summer and autumn of 2015. The experiment was carried out in Seropédica, RJ, under a randomized complete block design in a factorial arrangement (3x2) + 1 with four replications. High nitrogen rates promoted higher percentages of leaf blade dry mass and lower percentages of dead material dry mass in the forage mass and provided higher tiller population density and forage accumulation rate of Massai grass during the studied seasons. The use of coated urea promoted higher levels of crude protein in the forage than did the use of common urea in all seasons. The intensification of nitrogen fertilization reduced the nitrogen use efficiency but benefitted the structural characteristics, forage accumulation and chemical composition of Massai grass forage. The use of coated urea promoted greater of nitrogen use efficiency during all seasons of the year.

This work was carried out to evaluate the morphogenetic and structural characteristics of basal and aerial tillers of two dwarf elephant grass clones (BRS Kurumi and CNPGL 00-1-3) managed under intermittent stocking in six grazing cycles. A completely randomized experimental design with three replications (paddocks) in split-split-plot arrangements was used. The clones were allocated to the plots, tiller classes were assigned to the subplots and grazing cycles to sub subplots. Higher values for basal tillers than aerial tillers were seen for the following characteristics: leaf elongation rate (12.8 and 5.1 cm/tiller/day), leaf appearance rate (0.26 and 0.19 leaves/tiller/day), stem elongation rate (0.38 and 0.16 cm/tiller/day), senescence rate (0.98 and 0.47 cm/tiller/day), total number of leaves (9.3 and 7.1 leaves/ tiller), number of live leaves (7.7 and 5.8 leaves/tiller) and final length of leaf blades (33.5 and 20.0 cm). Phyllochron was lower for basal (4.0 days/leaf) than aerial tillers (5.5 days/leaf). The leaf life span increased with the advance of the grazing cycles, averaging 31.2 days. The tiller density increased with the advance of the grazing cycles showing an average increase of 167% of aerial tillers and 62% of basal tillers for both clones. The morphogenetic and structural characteristics of dwarf clones were influenced jointly by the clones and the availability of the environmental factors of growth during the spring and summer. The high leaf elongation rates, associated with high leaf appearance rate, reveal the potential of high production dry matter of leaves and restoration of leaf area after grazing.