Productive and chemical characteristics of Marandu grass in response to poultry manure and soil chiseling

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive and chemical characteristics of Marandu grass fertilized with poultry manure with or without the use of soil chiseling, during a period of 210 days. The experiment was conducted in a Dark-Red Latosol (Haplustox) of sandy texture, in a randomized block design with 4 replicates, in a 6 x 2 factorial scheme (0, 1.037, 2.074, 4.148, 6.222 t ha-1 of poultry manure and an additional treatment with chemical fertilizer based on 2.074 t ha-1, with and without soil chiseling). Grass-cutting management was performed between 95% of light interception by the canopy and the residual height of 0.15 m. The application of poultry manure resulted in an increase of forage production with higher number of cuts (NC). A linear model described the effect of the applied manure doses on dry matter accumulation (DMA), stems + sheaths (SS) and dead material (DM). There was significant interaction between manure doses and soil managements for leaf blade (LB), with greater variations in the treatment without soil chiseling. For plant chemical evaluation, a negative effect of poultry manure was observed on the contents of Ca, Mg, N, S, Mn and Zn, which may be due to the increased number of cuts. Poultry manure positively changed the production of Marandu grass.