Sustainable Production of Forage Sorghum for Grain and Silage Production with Moisture-Retaining Polymers That Mitigate Water Stress

• Published in: Agronomy (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 8; p. 1653
• Main Authors: Ferreira, Daniele de Jesus, Costa Neta, Clotilde de Morais, Zanine, Anderson de Moura, Santos, Francisco Naysson de Sousa, Pereira, Danillo Marte, Campos, Fleming Sena, Parente, Henrique Nunes, Parente, Michelle de Oliveira Maia, Rodrigues, Rosane Claudia, Santos, Edson Mauro, de Sousa, Francisca Cláudia da Silva, Alves, Guilherme Ribeiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-08-2024
• Subjects: Agronomy; Animals; Aquatic resources; Biomass; Brazil; Digestibility; Dry matter; fermentation; Forage; Hydration; hydration interval; Intervals; Leaves; Material requirements planning; Mixtures; Moisture; Nutrients; Polymer industry; Polymers; production; Production costs; Qualitative analysis; Seeds; Silage; Sorghum; Sustainable production; total mixed rations silage; Water; Water stress; water use; Brazil
• ISSN: 2073-4395; 2073-4395
• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy14081653

The objective was to evaluate the agronomic and production characteristics and the quality of forage sorghum for silage production, using a moisture-retaining polymer (MRP) in the soil during the agricultural off-season. To assess the agronomic characteristics of the forage sorghum, four treatments were used, represented by the MRP hydration intervals (Control, 0, 5, and 10 days) and four replications. The qualitative characteristics of the silage were evaluated in a 4 × 2 factorial scheme, and the same MRP hydration intervals were used for the agronomic assessment, with and without the concentrate mixture at the time of ensiling, both in a randomized block design. There were differences (p < 0.05) for all morphological variables, agronomic variables, and weight constituents of forage sorghum. There was an interaction effect (p < 0.05) between the MRP hydration intervals and the concentrate mixture at the time of ensiling for gas losses, silage dry matter recovery, and ether extract. There was an effect (p < 0.05) due to the addition of the concentrate mixture at the time of ensiling for in vitro dry matter digestibility and total digestible nutrients. When using MRP at planting and the concentrate mixture at the time of forage sorghum ensiling, a hydration interval of every 5 days is recommended.