Uso de escarificação do solo e plantas de cobertura e seus efeitos sobre a produtividade do milho silagem

Abstract

The use of cover crops has been intensifying over the years as an alternative to improve soil quality, increasing the production of dry mass on the soil and its organic matter. In a property with dairy cattle production, there is an intense exploration of the areas for the production of silage, which is used to feed the cattle during the period of forage shortage. In this work, we sought to evaluate the efficiency of the use of scarification and cover crops on the physical attributes of the soil, corn silage productivity. This experiment was carried out in an area managed under a conventional system in the interior of the city of São Pedro do Butiá, in which the covering species turnip, vetch, oats and mix containing these three species were implanted. Dry mass production of cover crops and corn and soil physical parameters such as density, porosity, macro and microporosity and degree of compaction at depths of 0-10 cm were evaluated; 10-20cm; 20-30 cm. The results obtained were submitted to analysis of variance and their averages to the Tukey Test at 5% probability. The highest DM production of cover crops was obtained by turnip and the lowest by vetch. In the evaluation of the physical parameters, there was no statistical difference found in the treatments of cover crops evaluated and plots with and without scarification, as well as in the DM production of corn. Thus, scarification did not interfere in the DM production of the cultures, as well as in the physical attributes.