Number and morphology of tiller age groups during summer in Marandu palisadegrass pastures previously used under deferred grazing

• Published in: Bioscience journal Vol. 36; no. 1
• Main Authors: Manoel Eduardo Rozalino Santos, Bruno Humberto Rezende Carvalho, Angélica Nunes de Carvalho, Gabriel de Oliveira Rocha, Flávia de Oliveira Scarpino Van Cleef, Gustavo Jordan da Silva Queiroz, Lucas Santos de Moraes, Larissa Lais Santos do Carmo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Uberlândia 01-01-2020
• Subjects: brachiaria brizantha syn; morphological composition; mowing; sward height; tillering dynamics; urochloa brizantha
• DOI: 10.14393/BJ-v36n1a2020-42215
• EISSN: 1981-3163

The relative contribution of young, mature and old tillers in the canopy influences the production and structure of the pasture. The objective with this work was to evaluate the balance between tiller appearance and tiller death (BAL) during spring and early summer, the morphology and percentages of young, mature and old tillers in Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu (marandu palisadegrass) with three conditions in late winter: short (24.1 cm), tall (49.0 cm) and tall (50.0 cm)/mown (8 cm). Tall and tall/mown pastures presented higher BAL in September and October, respectively. In January, BAL was higher in short and tall/mown pastures than in tall pasture. The tiller number was higher in short pasture, intermediate in tall/mown pasture and lower in tall pasture. The percentage of old tillers was higher in short and tall pastures compared to tall/mown pasture. The percentage of live leaf lamina reduced, while the percentage of dead leaf lamina increased with tiller age. Mowing of the tall marandu palisadegrass pasture in late winter increases the renewal of tillers in the spring and decreases the percentage of old tillers in the summer. The old tillers present worse morphology than young tillers.