Herbage accumulation dynamics in digit grass subjected to defoliation frequencies

Autor: Natan Teles Cruz, Braulio Maia de Lana Sousa, Jailson Lara Fagundes, Alfredo Acosta Backes, José Dantas Gusmão Filho, Ricardo Teles Vilas-Bôas, Cesar Augusto Rizato, Leandro Teixeira Barbosa
Jazyk: English<br />Portuguese
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Semina: Ciências Agrárias, Vol 40, Iss 2, Pp 731-744 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1676-546X
1679-0359
DOI: 10.5433/1679-0359.2019v40n2p731
Popis: This study was undertaken to examine the herbage accumulation dynamics and structural characteristics of digit grass subjected to different defoliation frequencies in the period of January 2015 to February 2016. Four defoliation frequencies [very high (25 cm), high (35 cm), medium (45 cm), and low (55 cm)] were evaluated in two periods of the year [greater insolation (September to March) and lesser insolation (April to August)]. The experiment was set up as a randomized-block design with four replicates. Overall, the decreasing defoliation frequencies increased the cutting interval; leaf area index; total-herbage, stem, and dead-herbage accumulation rates; and percentages of stems and dead herbage. This reduction in defoliation frequency also resulted in a lower leaf accumulation rate and percentage of leaves. In overall terms, digit grass showed higher total-herbage, leaf, and stem accumulation rates; percentages of stems and dead herbage; stem volume density; and tiller density in the period of greater insolation. In the period of lesser insolation, however, digit grass exhibited a lower dead-herbage accumulation rate and a lower percentage of dead herbage. Less frequent defoliations increase the herbage accumulation rates of digit grass, but result in a less desirable morphological composition.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals