Components of production and corn yield intercropped with forages in simultaneous sowing

Abstract

In the past, the integration of grain with cattle activity was limited to restricted options. Nowadays, however, there are numerous offers technology applicable to various concerns and socio-economic situation of producers. The integrated crop-livestock (ICL) can be made by the intercrop, succession or crop rotation with annual grasses. The work aimed to evaluate the grain yield of irrigated corn crop intercropped with forages of the genus Panicum and Urochloa in simultaneous sowing with corn. The experiment was conducted at the Farm for Teaching, Research and Extension, Faculty of Engineering - UNESP, Ilha Solteira in an Oxisol in Savannah conditions. The experimental area was irrigated by center pivot and it had a history of no-tillage to 8 years. The experimental design used was randomized blocks with four replications and five treatments, as being: Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania sown simultaneously (CTS) to corn; Panicum maximum cv. Mombaça sown simultaneously (CMS) to corn; Urochloa brizantha cv. Xaraes sown simultaneously (CBS) to corn; Urochloa ruziziensis sown simultaneously (CRS) to corn, and corn without intercropping (CWI). The production components of corn: plant population per hectare (PlPo), number of ears per hectare (NE ha-1), number of rows per ear (NRE), number of kernels per row on the ear (NKR), number of grain per ear (NGE) and mass of 100 grains (M100G) were not influenced by intercrop with forages. Comparing grain yield of single corn and corn intercropped with forage of the genus Panicum and Urochloa, there were no differences between treatments. Grain productivity (GP) of corn intercropped with forage of the genus Panicum and Urochloa was similar and did not differ from corn grown single. Regarding the dry mass production (DMP) of forage genus Panicum and Urochloa after intercropped with corn, it was observed that the intercrop that had the highest DMP was CTS, however, did not differ significantly from the other consortia. Therefore, the intercrop of corn with forage of the genus Panicum and Urochloa not influence growth and grain yield of irrigated corn in no-tillage system (NTS) in Savannah.