Productivity and morphological composition of Xaraes palisade grass under three light intensities

Abstract

The adaptation of Urochloa brizantha to Brazilian ecosystems and the use of artificial shading in low light production studies are important tools to obtain productive responses and to know the behavior of plants when used in integration with arboreal components. The experiment was conducted at the FMVZ - UNESP in Botucatu city, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. The study aimed to evaluate the yield of U. brizantha (syn Brachiaria brizantha) cv. Xaraes (Xaraes palisade grass) under three light intensities and four cuts. The experimental design was a randomized block with three treatments (natural luminosity, 30% light reduction, and 60% light reduction). three replicates and four cuts. The following morphological components were determined: leaf area index (LAI), forage accumulation rate (FAR), total forage mass (TFM), stem yield (SY), leaf yield (LY), and dead material yield (DMY). Light intensity influenced grass productivity, and the best performance was reached under 60% shading, which had higher values of TFM, LY, SY, LAI, and FAR if compared to natural luminosity. Thus, a reduction of 60% in light intensity showed to be the most productive and the best alternative under those conditions.