QUALITY EVALUATION OF FIVE VARIETIES OF CORN FOR SILAGE PRODUCTION IN CROP-LIVESTOCK-FOREST INTEGRATION SYSTEM IN THE CERRADO REGION

Abstract Text: The intercropped of corn within the integrated crop- livestock-forest system can be seen in the establishment of forage with lower costs and diversify, producing silage for animal feed. Thus, we evaluated the qualitative characteristics of five cultivars of maize intercropped with Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu for silage production in integrated crop-livestock-forest system. The experimental design was a randomized block with three replications and five treatments. Maize cultivars used were: EMGOPA 501, AL Bandeirantes, BRS Caimbé, PL 6880, BRS 1060. To assess the qualitative characteristics were estimated: number of grains per ear; number of kernels per row; number of rows per ear; grain weight per ear and weight of 100 grains. There were no significant differences in the variables studied. The intercropped of forage maize cultivars do not influence on the qualitative characteristics of corn for silage.

Keywords: intercropped, Marandu, tropical region

Means for number of grains per ear (NE); number of kernels per row (NR); number of rows per ear (NRE); grain weight per ear (GWE) and weight of 100 grains (W100G). ns - non significat. ¹Cultivar- AL Bandeirantes, ²Cultivar - Caimbé.

NE NR NRE GWE (g) W100G (g) EMGOPA501 532.6 358.0 12.6 178.34 34.09 AL BAND1 479.8 366.0 13.2 187.24 38.80 BRS CA2 540.0 349.7 15.6 179.98 32.64 PL 6880 443.4 316.0 14.0 171.13 37.54 BRS 1060 549.6 386.0 14.2 189.39 34.44 CV (%) 12.8ns 11.5ns 12.4ns 12.1ns 5.68ns