Morphogenic, structural, and productive characteristics of Cenchrus ciliaris L. grown using different levels of caprine and ovine biofertilizer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphogenic, structural, and productive characteristics of Cenchrus ciliaris L. in response to different doses of biofertilizers that originate from the anaerobic biodigestion of goat and sheep fecal matter on Yellow Argisoil. The experiment was performed in a greenhouse, in a completely randomized factorial design using two types of biofertilizers and five dosages (0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5%, and 10% of soil volume), with four repeats, for the duration of two vegetative cycles. In the first cycle, there was an increase in leaf lifespan and leaf/stem ratio with the use of 10% and 7.5% caprine biofertilizer, respectively. From the second cycle, doses of biofertilizers between 7.5% and 10% led to an improvement in the development of the morphogenic variables - leaf sprouting rate, leaf and pseudostem elongation rate, leaf lifespan, and senescence, as well as the structural characteristics - expanded leaf length and width, number of sprouting, expanded and live leaves, and expanded/expanding leaf ratio, resulting in a 73% increase in biomass. It was concluded that the use of biofertilizers improves the main morphogenic and structural characteristics of Cenchrus ciliaris L., resulting in increased fodder mass yield.