The effect of green manure on growth and yield of forage sorghum BR 601 was studied in a trial carried out at the UFERSA, Mossoró, RN, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized blocks in a scheme of split plots in time, with three replications. Treatments tested were seven legume species, Mucuna aterrima, Canavalia ensiformis, Cajanus cajan, Dolichos lab-lab, Crotalaria juncea, Crotalaria spectabilis, and Vigna unguiculata, a mixture of the legumes plus corn, sorghum and sunflower, and spontaneous vegetation as a control. For each treatment the amount of fresh mass, dry mass and contents of N, P, K, Na, Ca and Mg in shoots were determined, from which the amount of nutrients accumulated per hectare was calculated. Fresh mass of shoot, dry mass of shoot, plant height and number of leaves of sorghum, sowed after incorporation of green manures, were evaluated at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 days after seeding. Mucuna aterrima was the best option as a green manure because of its better performance in all characteristics evaluated at the end of sorghum cycle. Also recommended are Crotalaria juncea, and Dolichos lab-lab which had the higher dry mass and amount of nutrients in shoots.
Sorghum bicolor; dry mass; nutrient content
