Morfogênese dos capins marandu e mavuno durante o período de diferimento

Abstract

Forage grasses of Brachiaria genus, such as mavuno and marandu grasses, are suitable for pasture deferment, as they have thin stems, good growth during autumn and do not have concentrated flowering during the deferment period. This work was developed to evaluate the morphogenesis of mavuno and marandu grasses during the beginning and end of the deferment period. The experiment took place in Uberlândia, MG, from October 2019 to June 2021. During this period, the same experiment was repeated for two consecutive years (Year 1, in 2020; and Year 2, in 2021). The deferrment period started on March 9th and ended on June 9th, totaling 92 days. The leaf appearance rate (LApR) was higher in mavuno grass than in marandu grass. An opposite response pattern occurred for the leaf senescence rate. The leaf elongation rate (LElR) of mavuno and marandu grasses were similar, but higher at the beginning than at the end of deferment period. Only at the beginning of the deferment, the mavuno grass had a higher stem elongation rate than the marandu grass. Unlike leaf life span, TApF was higher at the beginning than at the end of the deferment period. LElR and LApR were higher in 2020 than in 2021. In general, when deferred, mavuno grass has a higher tiller growth rate than marandu grass.