Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the structure and forage production of hybrids of elephant-grass managed under cut. Twenty-four clones of elephant-grass from Embrapa dairy cattle were used as treatments, and Cameroom as a control. The grasses were cut close to the ground, every 60 days. The parameters evaluated were yield and dry matter content, number of basal tillers, number of leaves per tiller, plant height, stem diameter. The highest height of the plants was observed in clone CNPGL 00-103-1. The group with the highest number of tillers had three clones and a mean of 39.38 tiller m-2. In the group of clones CNPGL 00-103-1, CNPGL 93-25-3, CNPGL 00-16-1 and CNPGL 00-90-3 the highest dry matter contents (22.7% DM) were observed. The highest masses of forage, leaf blade and stem were observed in clone CNPGL 00-214, 15852 and 6195 kg ha-1 DM, respectively. The highest leaf blade / stem ratio was of the CNPGL 00-201-1 clone, and only in this did the leaf blade mass exceed that of the stem. Clone CNPGL 00-214 showed to be more productive, with high tillering capacity and forage accumulation.
Keywords:
Leaf blade; Pennisetum sp; stem; tiller
