Estrutura do capim-marandu durante o período de pastejo e submetido a estratégias para o rebaixamento antes do diferimento

Abstract

The objective of this work was to generate recommendations for strategies to lower the marandu grass before the deferral period, which would improve the structure of the pasture. This work was carried out from September 2017 to September 2019, during which the same experiment was repeated twice. The first experimental year (2018) was from September 2017 to September 2018; and the second (2019), from September 2018 to September 2019. The experiment was conducted in the Forage Sector at the Federal University of Uberlândia, in Uberlândia, MG, in an area consisting of nine paddocks, each with 800 m². Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu (marandu grass) was studied under three strategies of lowering the pasture before the deferral period: maintaining the grass at 15, 25 and 35 cm for five months before the beginning of the deferral, which occurred on March 23, and at the beginning from this period the pastures with 25 and 35 cm were lowered to 15 cm, while the pastures with 15 cm remained at the same height. The deferral period was 88 days, ending on June 19. From this date until September 15, the grazing period of all deferred pastures occurred, where all evaluations were carried out. The variables total forage mass (MFT), mass of live leaf (MFV), mass of live stem (MCV) and height (ALT), had higher values at the beginning, intermediate in the middle and lower at the end of the grazing period. On the other hand, the dead stem mass (MCM) was higher in the middle and at the end, compared to the beginning of that same period. The tipping index (IT) was lower at the beginning and a half than at the end of the grazing period. MCV and IT were higher in the pasture under the 15/15 cm strategy, while MCM was higher in the pasture under 35/15 cm and the ALT was lower in the pasture managed with 25/15 cm. The downgrade of Urochloa brizantha cv. marandu from 35 cm to 15 cm before deferral provides a pasture with a better structure for winter use.