Dry Matter Yield and Nutritional Characteristics of Elephant-Grass Genotypes

In the elephant-grass germplasm, there are genotypes that show a large genetic variability differentiated by morphological, reproductive, agronomic and biochemical characteristics. As such, there is a selection of new and more adapted elephant-grass genotypes, with greater productivity and nutritional quality, which can cause an increase in the forage offer, especially during the dry season. Thus, this work aimed at evaluating, throughout two years, the productive performance and nutritional value of 53 elephant-grass genotypes to produce forage in the edaphoclimatic conditions in Campos dos Goytacazes city, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The experiment was composed of 53 elephant-grass accessions from the Banco de Germoplasma da Embrapa Gado de Leite (Germplasm Bank of Embrapa Gado de Leite), located in Coronel Pacheco city, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It was applied the randomized complete block experimental design with 53 accessions two replications. Cuttings were performed every two months, throughout two years, totaling ten cuttings. The morpho-agronomic and bromatological characteristics were assessed, and the statistical analyses were carried out applying the Computational Applicative in Genetic and Statistics, Genes. Results indicated that there is a wide genetic variability among the elephant-grass genotypes concerning the characteristics under study. The Mineiro, Guaçu IZ-2 and Acesso 91 – EMBRAPA genotypes were those that showed to be superior to all traits evaluated simultaneously. They proved to be the most productive and with higher nutritional quality. Therefore, they are the most indicated to produce forage in the edaphoclimatic conditions of Campos dos Goytacazes city, Rio de Janeiro State.