Produção de forragem de Arachis pintoi E Cynodon sp. em monocultivo e consórcio

Abstract

Pasture-based milk production is one of the main agricultural activities in the western region of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The main cultivated forage species are the Bermuda grasses, which present a great potential for biomass production raising the importance of creating strategies to improve the quality of these forages. The objective of this work was to evaluate the forage production of two cultivars of perennial peanut (Arachis pintoi), “Alqueire” and “Belmonte”; and two cultivars of Bermuda grass (Cynodon sp.), “Jiggs” and “Tifton 85”, in monoculture and intercropping systems. The work was carried out in the experimental area of the Federal University of FronteiraSul (Chapecó, SC). Forages were introduced in the area through seedlings, in plots of 2.4 m by 2.4 m with spacing between rows and seedlings of 0.40 m, in aentirely randomized design with 3 replicates. The dry mass production was analyzed by the mass determination method with green mass collections at 28-day intervals. It was observed that forage production of peanut cultivars in monoculture could be considered satisfactory. The cultivar “Belmonte” was the most productive in both monoculture and intercropping systems. There was no difference in forage production between Cynodon cultivars in both monoculture and intercropping systems. All tested combinations of Cynodon cultivars with Arachis pintoi cultivars were shown to be viable and adapted to local conditions. Forage farming in intercropping systems present higher production, provided that the grasses (“Tifton” and “Jiggs”) are intercropped with the cultivar Arachis, “Belmonte”. Forage production decreased as evaluations progressed, for any cultivar in monoculture and intercropping. The intercropping “Belmonte/”Jiggs”, “Belmonte/”Tifton” and the monoculture production of the cultivar belmonte showed the highest accumulated productivity, with 16424.6, 16339.667 and 13600.6 MS kg ha-1, respectively.