Milho safrinha em espaçamento reduzido consorciado com populações de plantas de Brachiaria ruziziensis

Abstract

Vegetation cover on the soil surface is important for the maintenance of the notillage system (SPD), however in tropical regions there is a fast decomposition of these vegetable residues. The intercropping of maize with forages is an alternative to keep the soil covered, but the population of plants is a key factor to achieve profitability on the system. This study aimed to evaluate the consortium and populations of Brachiaria ruziziensis and winter maize in reduced spacing. The experiment was realized at Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste, in Dourados-MS, with experimental design was a randomized complete block design and split plots. The main plots were composed with populations of late season maize (51.000 and 62.000 plants m-2) and subplots by B. ruziziensis populations (0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 plants m-2), in four repetitions. The plots were consisted of seven lines of maize, spaced by 0,45 m, with usable area of 27 m2. The Data were subjected to analysis of variance at 5% probability and presented by a polynomial equation of best fit (P <0,05). The population 62.000 plants m-2 of the corn had higher grain productivity in monocrop and the smallest population of B. ruziziensis. The population increase of B. ruziziensis reduced the rate of prolificacy, growth rate of culture, biomass dry matter and grain productivity of maize. The consortium had greater amount of crop residues and 5 plants m-2 resulted in less competition with forage maize being a viable technology for crops in no-till.