Alelopatia de resíduos de silagem sobre hortaliças

Abstract

Currently it has been observed that in Brazil and in the world, maize is the most used forage plant for silage. Silage is the green forage stored in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic environment) and preserved by fermentation in its own deposits called silo, which serves to complement animal nutrition in the off-season planting of other forages, or continuously to supply the lack of pastures during the time when forage availability is low. Dry mass losses occur mostly during the conservation phase, with more emphasis on the fermentation process, depending on the technology used in the handling and storage process. Generally when it has broken silage it is removed from the silo and left to later put in the garden as a form of fertilization and straw, this is due to the lack of vegetable remains (straw) in the garden. These residues are intended to have a greater vegetable cover in the garden, maintaining the mild temperature of the soil and conserving its moisture. The objective of this work was to evaluate a possible allelopathic effect of corn silage residues on germination and initial growth of lettuce, chives, cabbage, parsley and tomato seeds. The experiment was carried out in the seed laboratory of the Federal University of Fronteira Sul and conducted on a completely randomized design, using four replications of 25 seeds of each culture and three concentrations of the extract (1%, 5% and 10%), as well as a control.. The evaluation was made through daily germination count, germination speed index (IVG), total root and shoot length, visual evaluation of defective plants. The results show that there was a significant interaction between the different concentrations of silage residues, thus reducing the germination and also increasing the time required for the germination of different seeds of oleric plants. As a result, the root and shoot size of the different cultures decreased, with some abnormalities in the root and shoot. These results allow us to infer that the silage residue extract had an allelopathic effect on germination, IVG and root size of the five tested vegetables.