Influência de diferentes manejos de água sob o crescimento do capim sudão (Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf)

Abstract

The adequate supply of year-round quality pastures is essential for animal development. However, during the spring-summer period the quantity and quality of the natural pastures diminish, due to the lack of rain or the irregular distribution of these, the use of irrigation becomes fundamental to maximize production and provide quality food Animals. Sudan grass culture has been increasingly used in Rio Grande do Sul due to characteristics that adapt to regional conditions such as drought tolerance, low fertility, high dry mass production and high nutritional content. However, when irrigated presents significant results, however, because it is a new cultivar, there is little research showing the behavior of the crop when irrigated, since BRS ESTRIBO is the first certified cultivar of the crop, and its productive potential has not yet been exploited . Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the growth and dry matter production of the BRS ESTRIBO cultivar, when irrigated under different irrigation slides, being 0, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140% of the Evapotranspiration of (ETo) in a randomized block design. Aiming to determine the appropriate blade to reach the point of maximum efficiency of water use, through the production of dry mass under the soil and climatic conditions of Santiago-RS, four uniformity cuts were performed at 50, 80, 110 and 140 days after sowing (DAS). The evaluations were: plant height, stem height, stalk diameter, leaf area index, number of stalks per square meter, leaf / stem ratio, dry mass, total dry mass and water use efficiency. All treatments, with the different irrigation depths tested, showed influence on the evaluated parameters, being the treatment with the irrigation blade with 140% of the ETo, where the highest averages were observed, alternating in some seasons and / or variables with the blade Of irrigation with 100% of ETo. However, the lowest averages observed for all evaluated parameters were in the treatment without irrigation. Therefore, the use of conventional sprinkler irrigation for the sudan grass crop is a viable option to increase production, presenting as an alternative to increase the supply of forage and reduce the periods of food shortage in this season of forage shortage .