Aruana Guineagrass (Panicum maximum Jacques cv. Aruana) is widely used as pasture for sheep, which are extremely susceptible to infestation by larvae of gastrointestinal parasites in tropical pasture-based systems (Zanini et al. 2012) A way to mitigate this problem, and consequently reduce the need for use of anthelmintics, is by managing pastures with post-grazing height low enough to favor the incidence of sunlight at the base of tussocks that will kill and control larval development, without jeopardizing canopy regrowth and persistence. The pre-grazing sward height recommended for Aruana Guineagrass is 30 cm, when the canopy intercepts 95% of the incident light, and a 15 cm post-grazing height (Zanini et al. 2012). As cutting severity and nitrogen (N) fertilization cause morphological and physiological adaptations in individual plants - altering the production of forage grasses - the objective of this study was to evaluate the accumulation of morphological components of Aruana Guineagrass subjected to cutting severities and N fertilization
