Physical-chemical quality of Urochloa grasses in different phenological stages.

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the physical-chemical quality of hybrids Urochloa (Insurgent, Piata and Signal) at different phenological stages, in the dry tropics. The evaluated variables were: total forage yield and per components, intercepted radiation, plant height and crude protein per component. A complete blocks design was used to the random with arrangement in divided plots and four repetitions, with the procedure PROC GLM of SAS. In the three grasses, the best total dry matter yield was obtained at 49 days of regrowth, with 6732 kg DM ha-1 in the Insurgent grass, Piata with 3320 and Signal presented 2675 kg DM ha-1; the leaf component presented a higher percentage of crude protein, at 14 days, reaching 22, 21 and 21% for the Piata, Insurgent and Signal grasses, respectively (P = 0.05).