Abstract

VIVAS-CARMONA, Luis Enrique *; NAVAS-R, Ramón I; ESCOBAR-GARCIA, Rafael Antoni  and  JOSE DE JESUS, Ron. Evaluation of four genotypes of elephant grass in Calabozo, Guárico State, Venezuela. J. Selva Andina Biosph. [online]. 2019, vol.7, n.1, pp.44-53. ISSN 2308-3859.

Abstract The elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is one of the main cutting grasses used for animal feeding in intensive farms in Venezuela, lacking sufficient research, which allows its use as alternative forage. The research work was carried out in the INIA-Guárico, in the Banks of San Pedro, Calabozo Guárico State. The objectives that thought about in this investigation were: Evalúate four grass genotypes, [Clone Cuba (G₁), purple Maralfalfa (G₂) (Taiwan), Maralfalfa green (G₃) and King Grass (G₄)[. Evalúate the effect on yield of three levéis of nitrogen fertilization N) in the reabsorption, T₁: 150 Kg.ha^-1 of urea: T₂: 15000 Kg.ha^-1[69 KgN], T₃: 20000 Kg.ha^-1 [92 Kg N] cow manure; T₄: 0 Kg.ha^-1 were used; Evalúate morphomet-ric variables in four grass genotypes: number of stalks (NS), number of leaves (NL), plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), weight of leaves (WL), weight of stalks (WS), number of stakes (NST), weight of cuttings (WC), total weight (TW = WL + WS). The área used was 684 m², divided into 48 plots. It was used a randomized block design with three replications. The results show that the N, regardless of the source, was highly significant (p <0.01) for variables: NL, SD, WL, TW. Similarly, for genotypes, but with the variables: NL, SD, PH, WL, WC and TW. Results were well adjusted to the mathematic model: 7(TW)= - 0.14798+0.85903(WL)+0.20362(WC)+0.00145(NL)+0.00995(SD)+0.03369(PH), R²=0.9482 and (p<0.01). Protein content of 8 to 10 % was found, with Taiwan and king grass standing out. Nitrogen fertilization positively influenced forage production yield and morphmetric variables of the three elephant grass genotypes (Clon Cuba, Maralfalfa purple (Taiwan) y Maralfalfa green).

Keywords : Nitrogen; production; Pennisetum purpureum; yield; cow manure.

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