Produtividade e avaliação morfogênica de brachiaria ruziziensis em consórcio com milho safrinha no período seco do cerrado piauiense

Abstract

As a result of the expansion of agriculture in Brazil, alternatives have been sought to assist producers in making decisions to define and produce forage in a dry and unfavorable period for crops. The objective was to estimate the forage mass and describe the morphological characteristics of Brachiaria ruziziensis pasture intercropped with off-season corn in the dry period of the Piauí cerrado, in order to estimate the productive viability of fodder as a soil protection form and animal feed supplementation. The work was carried out between the months of August and October 2021, at the Colibri Agricultural Condominium Farm, in the city of Uruçuí, Piauí. The Brachiaria ruziziensis pasture associated with off-season corn was established in a total area of 310 hectares. Forage production and structural characteristics of the Brachiaria ruziziensis pasture (height and number of plants per hectare) were evaluated, besides the morphogenic characteristics of the forages after successive cuts. The forage production area of Brachiaria ruziziensis intercropped with off-season corn proved to be efficient in terms of soil cover potential and forage mass production, even under unfavorable edaphoclimatic conditions. Regarding the morphogenic characteristics, the Brachiaria ruziziensis grass showed a reduction in the growth speed after successive cuts. In this context, the study shows the importance of evaluating the parameters related to the productive and morphological characteristics of forage plants in a consortium system and, thus, designing technologies that will help the producer in making decisions that result in the maintenance and conservation of productive areas