Agronomic characteristics of sorghum in an agroforestry system with Eucalyptus in the semiarid region of minas gerais

Abstract

The evaluation of agronomic characteristics of crops is important because they may be influenced by the height, density and spatial arrangements of eucalyptus in an agroforestry system. These silvicultural characteristics may interfere with height and productivity of crops between the rows of the tree component due to shading, competition for water and nutrients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the assessed site on some agronomic characteristics such as height, grain yield and effective yield of BRS 655 forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L). Moench) with different clones and arrangements of eucalyptus in the north of Minas Gerais. Experimental randomized block with a split-plot design and five replications was used to evaluate sorghum. The effective productivity and height of sorghum comparing to the average values in the area were low. The GG 100 clone (Eucalyptus urophylla × E. grandis ) showed low adaptation to semi-arid region while the MA 2001 clone (Eucalyptus camaldulensis × E. Tereticornes) presented greater height. The low values of some agronomic characteristics of sorghum were due to the distance between the rows of eucalyptus. The 2 × 3 + (15 m) and 2 × 3 + (20 m) arrangements of eucalyptus generated higher sorghum plants regardless of the clone.