Morphogenesis of age groups of Marandu palisade grass tillers deferred and fertilised with nitrogen

Abstract

Nitrogen fertilisation allows to modulate the growth of forage canopy during the deferment period. We evaluated the morphogenic characteristics, during the initial and final phases of the deferment period, of young, mature and old tillers of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu. fertilised with low and high doses of nitrogen (N). The design was completely randomised, in a subdivided plot scheme, with four replications. Leaf appearance rate (LAR) and leaf elongation rate (LER) were higher in young tillers than in old ones. At the beginning of the deferment period, the canopy under high N doses had higher LAR and LER values. At the end of the deferment period, we observed no difference between the doses of N for LAR. The stem elongation rate was higher at the beginning than at the end of the deferment period, while the leaf senescence rate (LSR) was higher at higher N doses when compared to lower doses. The highest LSR values and leaf lifespan were observed at the end of the deferment period. The greatest number of young tillers occurred at the beginning of the deferment period and with the highest N dose. In this sense, higher N doses, applied during the active growth period and before the deferment period, favour he maintenance of a larger number of young tillers, which have a greater growth potential.