Production and nutritional characteristics of sunflowers and paiaguas palisadegrass under different forage systems in the off season

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The high efficiency of sunflowers in extracting water from the soil under water stress conditions is a factor that promotes sunflower cultivation in the offseason. Therefore, sunflowers have been intercropped with grasses of the Urochloa genus in crop-livestock integration systems. However, little is known of sowing methods for intercropping; thus, the present study aimed to assess sunflower agronomic traits and the production and nutritional characteristics of Paiaguas palisadegrass under different forage systems in the offseason in the midwest region of Brazil. The experiment was conducted at the Federal Institute of Goiás (Instituto Federal Goiano), Rio Verde Campus in a randomized block experimental design with four replicates. The treatments consisted of the following forage systems: sunflower monocropped; Paiaguas palisadegrass monocropped; sunflower rows intercropped with Paiaguas palisadegrass; sunflower inter-row intercropped with Paiaguas palisadegrass; and sunflower oversown and intercropped with Paiaguas palisadegrass. The results show that the sunflower rows intercropped with Paiaguas palisadegrass negatively affect the agronomic traits of sunflower; thus, inter-row sowing and oversowing are recommended. Sowing Paiaguas palisadegrass with oversown sunflower for forage production is hampered by intercropping and shows low forage production. In turn, the intercropped sowing method had no effect on the nutritional characteristics of the produced forage. Intercropping sunflowers with Paiaguas palisadegrass in the offseason has the potential to provide a promising cropping method for the production of achenes and after harvest enables the availability of forage with good nutritional value for use in the offseason in the midwest region of Brazil.

Production and quality of sunflower and Paiaguas palisadegrass silage in monocropped and intercropping in different forage systems

“…For CP contents, there was a meaningful effect (p > 0.05) only between the silage of sunflower and Paiaguas palisadegrass, which presented the highest value. This result is caused by the morphology of Paiaguas palisadegrass, which presents a great relation to foliar lamina: thatch (Costa et al, 2016;Santos et al, 2016), contributing for a better quality of the forage. However, in intercropped systems, the contents of CP were similar varying from 116.1 to 119.5 g kg -1 DM.…”

“…Among the forage used in integration systems, or intercropping of cultures in Cerrado region, Brachiaria brizantha cv. BRS Paiaguas is a great option, the plant attends all the requirements needed in different systems of production, encompassing different technological levels (Costa et al, 2016). Besides that, the forage has been used for the production of silage in integrated systems, allowing great results (Santos et al, 2016;Costa et al, 2018;Souza et al, 2019;Oliveira et al, 2020).…”

“…BRS Paiaguas is a great option, the plant attends all the requirements needed in different systems of production, encompassing different technological levels (Costa et al, 2016). Besides that, the forage has been used for the production of silage in integrated systems, allowing great results (Santos et al, 2016;Costa et al, 2018;Souza et al, 2019;Oliveira et al, 2020). Cruvinel et al (2017) reported that the silage of additive sunflowers with tropical forages are able to bring great benefits to the quality of the silage, for example, decrease in the content of ethereal extract, in the fibers of acid detergents, lignin, in addition to the production of silage in the off season, with good quality and with sufficient amount for nutritional maintenance of ruminants.…”

Morphogenesis, structure, and dynamics of paiaguas palisadegrass tillering after intercroping with sorghum for the recovery of pasture in different forage systems

“…The system of crop-livestock integration has contributed to reductions in degraded areas and promoted pasture recovery, in addition to diversifying areas that are currently planted with Marandu palisadegrass (COSTA et al, 2016). This technique is notable because it is a sustainable and competitive technology for leveraging agribusiness.…”

“…(Brachiaria brizantha cv. BRS Paiaguas) stands out because it meets the requirements of different production systems with different technological levels, and it shows satisfactory forage production during periods of low rainfall or dry seasons (COSTA et al, 2016;SANTOS et al, 2016).…”