Época de semeadura, regimes de corte, produção e qualidade de sementes de milheto

Abstract

Pearl millet is a tropical annual grass, used for animal feeding as forage, in direct pasture, for cutting, hay, silage and grain crop for ration. The objective of the present study was the investigation of the behavior of millet, after different cutting systems, sown at two times, to verify the possibility of cultivation under the conditions in Botucatu-SP, 815 meters altitude, 22°50'59''S e 48°25'54''W, for seed production, as a crop in succession/rotation with another wet season crop. The experiment was carried out in pots, under a plastic tunnel, in a complete randomized block design, with two sowing times (April and September), each one with five treatments: T1) free growth, without cutting; T2) a cut when the plant reached 50 to 70cm height; T3) cutting when the plant reached flowering; T4) sequence of three cuttings when the plant reached 50 to 70cm height; T5) sequence of two cuttings when the plant reached flowering, and five replications. The variables evaluated were seed production, the component seed production per plant and the physical and physiological quality of the seeds. The data were submitted to the joint analysis of the sowing times and the averages were compared by the Tukey test at 5% significance. The results showed that sowing time and the cutting system affected the millet seed production and the quality. Sowing in April with at most one cutting in the vegetative phase was shown to be the best combination for the production of pearl millet seeds in Botucatu.