Alexander grass seed physiology and production: a step towards the conversion of a weed into a forage plant
Alexander grass is a Brachiaria species with great potential to produce plentiful and high quality forage. It is broadly found in Southern Brazil, and taken most of the time as a weed given the habit to develop spontaneously in fields of grain crops. Several studies assessed grazing and confirmed it...
| Autor principal: | Oliveira, Juliano Rossi |
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| Formato: | Tese |
| Idioma: | Inglês |
| Publicado em: |
Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná
2017
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| Assuntos: | |
| Acesso em linha: |
http://repositorio.utfpr.edu.br/jspui/handle/1/2327 |
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| Resumo: |
Alexander grass is a Brachiaria species with great potential to produce plentiful and high quality forage. It is broadly found in Southern Brazil, and taken most of the time as a weed given the habit to develop spontaneously in fields of grain crops. Several studies assessed grazing and confirmed its characteristics as a good forage plant, especially in integrated production systems. Regardless, its use stills limited by the lack of knowledge on reproductive traits that could (1) endorse the establishment of an organized seed production to spread it as a pasture and (2) help to design control strategies when the plant is not desired. The major aim of this work was to compile experiment results and literature review to provide a big picture on the Alexander grass seed physiology, from the seed development until the dispersal. Forage characteristics are also discussed to provide a systematic and complete understanding of the plant behavior. The reproductive morphology was assessed through quantitative traits such as the number of inflorescences produced, the seasonal timing of inflorescence production, branching of the inflorescence, number of seeds according to the inflorescence organs, inflorescence and racemes length, shattering timing, shattering speed, shattering intensity, and other characteristics according to the panicle age and the plant phenology. Maturation and germination of the seeds are discussed according to reproductive components such as thousand seed weight and seed dry mass percentage; relativized yet to the elapsing of the cycle. Seed gathering methods are compared according to the physiological quality of the seed and practicability. Plant response to environmental stimulus to flowering and germination are presented and theorized. Further, treatments to release dormancy and improve the seed performance were tested, looking to establish a production management and to understand the seed biochemical responses. Behavior of soil seed bank under environmental influences were reviewed and discussed, and seed borne pathogens i.e. potential microbiological threatens are presented. On the base of this information, some guidelines were established for the overall management to sow, produce and harvest Alexander grass. Scarce literature and data are found on the species. Fortunately, lessons and previous experience with Brachiaria widely used as pasture in Brazil helped the comparisons and supported the conclusions. It was found that ground-sweeping method is the most proper way to harvest Alexander grass seed. Defoliation management did not influence the synchrony and the amount of panicle emerged. Alexander grass presents high panicle production per area, reaching near 1,750 panicles m-2. Seed shattering starts rapidly, after 11 days from the panicle emergence near 30% of seed already shed, after 20 days near 60% of the seed already shed. Shattering also influences the distribution of the thousand seed weight along the panicle. Alexander grass presents smaller racemes, smaller seeds, longer panicles and more racemes per panicle than most of the Brachiariagrasses widespread in Brazil. Seed maturation and filling follows the same direction of the shattering, happening from the distal to the proximal fraction of the panicles (basipetally). Seeds threshed from the panicle present low germination and low shelf life. Generally, seeds present large variability even when collected from the ground. Seeds collected after the natural shatter present better germination than seeds collected directly from the panicle. The higher the thousand seed weight, the higher the seed germination. After six-month storage, one minute of physic scarification in a rotational machine with sandpaper was enough to promote the germination; Substrate imbibition with KNO3 at the dose of 0.4% promotes the germination and H2SO4 acid scarification is deleterious to the seed. |
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