The feasibility of soybean-maize succession under the no-till system in the Brazilian cerrado depends on adequate amounts of straw on the soil surface, which can be obtained by intercropping maize with perennial forages. This study aimed to evaluate mass yield and burn-down easiness for nine perennial forage species. The species were grown intercropped with maize from March to July 2009. In October, plants were cut at 0.20 m above ground and 20 days after cut, glyphosate was applied at the following doses: 0.72, 1.44, 2.06, and 2.88 kg a.e. ha-1). The effect of the doses was evaluated 10 and 20 days after application, by weighing and oven-drying the straw at 60 ºC. Control was considered excellent when moisture of the desiccated plants was less than or equal to 30% and the forages were grouped according to burn-down easiness: 1) Urochloa (Syn Brachiaria) ruziziensis, Megatyrsus (syn Panicum) maximum cv. Massai, and M. maximum cv. Aruana as the most easily controlled; 2) U. decumbens cv. Basilisk, U. brizantha cv. Xaraés, and U. brizantha cv. Marandu, as intermediary; and 3) M. maximum cv. Tanzânia, M. maximum cv. Mombaça, and B. brizantha cv. Piatã, as the hardest-to-kill. Considering biomass production, the shorter interval between herbicide application and plant death, and the glyphosate dose, U. ruziziensis (0.45 and 1.29 kg a.e. ha-1) and M. maximum cv. Aruana (1.41 and 1.66 kg a.e. ha-1) presented the most burn-down easiness, aiming at soybean plant succession.
Brachiaria; Urochloa; Panicum; Megatirsus; glyphosate
