ASSOCIATIVE EFFECT OF INTERROW SPACING, PLANT DENSITIES AND AGE ON VEGETATIVE AND QUALITATIVE PERFORMANCE OF FORAGE SORGHUM

Abstract

The trial aimed to evaluate the associative effect of interrow spacing (30; 50 and 70 cm), plant densities (300; 450 and 600 thousand plant ha-1) and evaluation periods (50, 85 and 125 days after planting) on productive and qualitative performance of forage sorghum AG-2501C under cutting management. A randomized blocks experimental design was used, with four replications, in a factorial 3x3x3 scheme. No significant interaction (P>0.5) was observed between interrow spacing and plant densities for dry matter production, percentage of stems and leaves per plant, dry matter and crude protein contents in stems and leaves, acid detergent fiber and neutral detergent fiber in stems. Productive and qualitative performance of stems and leaves of sorghum under cutting management is not coincident along the utilization period. The best performance (productive and qualitative) was obtained using 70cm interrow spacing. Variability due to the different interrow spacing was observed in leaves:steans ratio, dry matter production, fiber contents in neutral and acid detergent fiber.

Keywords

• acid detergent fiber
• crude protein
• dry matter
• dry matter production
• neutral detergent fiber
• Sorghum bicolor x Sorghum sudanense