Dry Matter Yield of Promising \u3cem\u3ePanicum maximum\u3c/em\u3e Genotypes in Response to Phosphorus and Liming on Brazilian Savannah

Soil fertility of the Brazilian savannah Cerrado is naturally poor. Extensive areas of pastures located in the central part of territory are cultivated with Brachiaria grasses which are less demanding for soil nutrients and lime (Rao et al. 1998). On the other hand, Panicum maximum cultivars such as the high yielding Mombaça grass recommended to intensive beef and dairy cattle systems (Euclides et al. 2008), must be seeded with a higher amount of fertilizer, especially phosphorus (P). Consequently there is an effort for selection of P. maximum genotypes with low P demand and high responsiveness. The objective of this study was to evaluate dry matter yield of genotypes of P. maximum in response to doses of P and lime in the Brazilian Cerrado

Performance of Nelore Cattle on \u3cem\u3ePanicum maximum\u3c/em\u3e Pastures in the Brazilian Cerrado

With the increased demand for meat products, associated with environmental concerns due to global climatic and land use changes, the need to efficiently use pasture and forage resources will increase (Boval and Dixon 2012). Efforts to breed and release new forage cultivars must incorporate these concerns, ensuring that introduced material is of high quality, especially under grazing (Euclides et al. 2008). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the average daily weight gain and stocking rate of Nelore beef cattle grazing new genotypes of Panicum maximum during the rainy season in the Brazilian Cerrado

BRS Quênia and BRS Tamani: New \u3ci\u3ePanicum maximum\u3c/i\u3e Jacq. Hybrid Cultivars in Brazil

Since 1982 Embrapa Beef Catle in Campo Grande, MS, Brazil, develops a Panicum maximum Jacq. breeding program, based on the germplasm collected and assembled by IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Developpment) and received through a cooperation-agreement with IRD. The germplasm was evaluated and four cultivars were released directly from the germplasm: cultivars Tanzania, Mombaça, Massai and BRS Zuri. Breeding began in 1990 and involved crosses between sexual plants and selected apomictic accessions. The program consists of evaluation followed by selection of hybrids in plots with replications, evaluation of the selected hybrids in national network experiments in diverse regions and then evaluation of the few selected hybrids under grazing. Hybrids are also evaluated for disease and insect resistances and abiotic stresses. Seeds are multiplied between each evaluation phase. The whole process takes from 10 to 20 years for the release of superior cultivars. Recently, Embrapa released two hybrid cultivars. BRS Tamani, a short, very leafy and high-tillering cultivar, and BRS Quênia, a medium height, very leafy productive cultivar. Both cultivars are recommended for medium to high fertility light soils, corrected for soil nutrients, and for rotationally grazed management. BRS Tamani, because of its short stature and quality is well indicated for cattle weaning. Both cultivars are tolerant to all the spittlebugs present in Brazil. They are not suited for waterlogged soils. Compared to the traditional cultivars in Brazil, these two cultivars showed improved digestibility and crude protein and greater animal daily gains and BRS Quênia also provided higher liveweight gain per area