MAIZE AND SORGHUM HYBRIDS SILAGE PRODUCTION WITHOUT NITROGEN FERTILIZATION IN THE SUMMER GROWING SEASON

Abstract

Obtaining hybrids that have high percentage of grains in total dry mass, more digestible leaves and stems, and high total dry matter yield is the main objective of silage breeding programs. So, the objective of this research was to evaluate the silage production of hybrid maize and sorghum whole plants without nitrogen fertilization, in the summer growing season. The research was conducted in a medium textured Latossol, in Rio Verde, southeast of the Goiás State, Brazil. A randomized blocks design with six treatments and four replications was used. The treatments were maize (P-30F90, DKB-177, and AG-7010) and sorghum (Experimental 1, Experimental 2, and Volumax). For maize, six plants per meter were sown at 0.90 m row spacing, while, for sorghum, eight plants per meter were sown at 0.45 m row spacing. The evaluations consisted of shoot biomass, as well as ratio of fresh and dry mass of maize stalks, leaves, and ears, and sorghum panicles, collected at 105 days after emergence (DAE). The Volumax sorghum hybrid presented the highest shoot biomass yield. Maize hybrids presented a higher proportion of ear/shoot biomass than panicle/shoot biomass of sorghum hybrids, confirming the importance of corn use for silage quality.

KEY-WORDS: Zea mays; Sorghum bicolor; plant characteristics.