Row Arrangements of Maize and Soybean Intercrop on Silage Quality and Grain Yield

Abstract

The success of maize + soybean intercrop depends on the plant arrangement. An experiment was carried out to evaluate different row arrangements on intercrop forage yield, silage quality and maize grain yield in relation to maize as a sole crop. The experiment was set up with a randomized complete block design with eight row arrangements between maize and Soybean. Maize biomass yield among crop arrangements were similar, although, lower than the maize sole crop. On the other hand, these treatments showed higher soybean biomass yield, which in turn increased silage crude protein and crude protein yield per unit area. Maize thousand grain weight, grain yield per plant and per area was affected by the intercrop arrangements. The use of two corn rows + two soybean rows (2M+2S-30 cm) and four corn rows + four soybean rows (4M+4S-30 cm) showed higher crude protein yield per area associated with similar maize grain yield in relation to the sole maize crop. In conclusion, alternating four maize rows with four soybean rows was the optimum row ratio in maize + soybean intercrop, though this needs to be further confirmed by more trials.

Can soybean biomass addition optimize corn silage quality?

“…According to Neves & Gai (2017), the pH values found in the present experiment characterize good quality silage and are similar to those observed in other studies using sole maize crop silage (Neves & Gai, 2017;Pauli et al, 2017 ) and composed silage (corn + soybean) (Stella et al, 2016;Batista et al, 2018;Batista et al, 2019). In this context, it can infer that the addition of soybean biomass does not affect the microbial fermentation of the ensiled biomass.…”

“…No effects of soybean biomass on neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and total digestible nutrients (NDT) were observed (Table 2), with observed NDF values of 44.04 and 40.59% ( Figure 3C), ADF of 23.51 and 21.38% ( Figure 3D), and TDN of 71.38 and 72.87% ( Figure 3E), for studies 1 and 2, respectively. These values are similar to those observed by Batista et al (2019) in silages containing approximately 90% corn biomass and 10% soybean biomass (NDF -38.34%, ADF -20.02% and TDN-73.83%).…”

“…For the ensiling process, maize (Zea mays L.) stands out as the main used forage crop, due to its high dry matter yield per area, sufficient amount of sugars for the production of lactic acid, good fermentation, providing a feed with approximately 7.7% of crude protein (Goes et al, 2013). Despite that, studies have been showing that the addition of legume biomass, including soybean, has the potential to increase silage yield (Baghdadi et al, 2016;Tsujimoto et al, 2016) and enhance the quality of corn silage, especially the crude protein content (Keplin 2004;Stella et al, 2016;Kim et al, 2018;Batista et al, 2018;Batista et al, 2019).…”

Variedades E Formas De Adubação No Cultivo De Soja E Milho Em Consórcio

“…Segundo os autores, ambas as espécies possuem características complementares: o milho por ser uma cultura C 4 exigente em nitrogênio e possuir porte relativamente mais alto, e a soja de metabolismo C 3 , fixadora de nitrogênio, que ocupa um nicho ecológico relativamente baixo; permitem que ambas as culturas coexistam de forma equilibrada. Portanto, o consórcio milho-soja pode ser implementado em qualquer área, onde o milho e soja são cultivadas, sem que ocorra perdas na cultura do milho consorciado quando comparado ao monocultivo (Saleem et al, 2011;Ijoyaha e Fanenb, 2012;Zerihun et al, 2013;Du et al, 2017;Batista et al, 2018;Batista et al, 2019). O índice de equivalência de área (IEA) é considerado eficiente quando for superior a 1,0 (Vandermeer, 1990) e tanto os consórcios estabelecidos com o milho em fileiras simples quanto em duplas foram eficientes (Tabela 7).…”

“…Quando se utiliza a consorciação entre gramínea e soja, obtém-se um efeito benéfico sobre a produtividade da área explorada, em que as áreas de consórcio rendem, no mínimo, a área cultivada com a gramínea solteira. Somado a isto, uma forragem de melhor valor nutritivo é produzida, o que se justifica pelo melhor aproveitamento do nitrogênio no campo e economia de concentrados proteicos pelo uso da silagem mista (Rezende et al, 2000;Evangelista et al, 2003, Batista et al, 2019. Apesar dos benefícios do consórcio de milho e soja, não houve grande expansão no uso deste consórcio, por diversos fatores inclusive pela dificuldade de manejo de plantas daninhas.…”