Study of Forage Plants\u27 Initial Growth using the Quantitative Development Analysis

The initial development analysis is destinated to the evalu­ation of net production in plants, derivated from the photosyntetic process and the perform results of the assimilat­ive system during certain time period (Watson, 1952). The factors that guide plant production, in general, may be classificated in three classes : genetic, ecological and physiologi­cal factors. The physiological factors are : leaf area index (LAI), net assimilation rate (EA) and relative growth rate (Rw) (Alvim, 1962). Some authors think that little genetic difference exist in relation to EA and that there is a little probability of increasing the production capacity of species through plant\u27s selections for higher EA (Watson, 1952). However, appreciable differences have been found among species (Alvin, 1962), as well as within species (Watson, 1952). The purpose of this essay was to verify the different develop­ment among cultivars and species of different grasses and for­age legumes

Morpho-Physiological Aspects and Nutritive Value of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu and Heteropogon Sp Affected by the Plants\u27 Age

Grazing pressure must be related to the pasture potential capacity of recovery. The measurement of leaf area index (LAI) is a way of evaluating that effect. Whatever the management, the main objective will be to allow pasture to reach a high LAI status and its\u27 maintenance (Peterson, 1970). In elephant grass the stem/leaf ratio was used to indicate the dry matter production and indirectly indicates the grazing pressure (Rodrigues, 1984). Present experiment was done to evaluate the evolution of leaf area index (LAI), leaf/stem ratio (L/S), percentages of crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF) and in vitro dry matter digesti­bility (IVDMD) and dry matter production (DMP) through the increasing age of the plants