MORFOGÊNESE E NÚMERO DE FOLHAS DE CAPIM MARANDU MANEJADO SOB DISTINTAS ALTURAS DE DOSSEL

Aimed to understand how different Marandu grass (Urochloa brizantha) sward heights management using continuous grazing under variable stocking rate changed on both morphogenic and structural variables. Treatments were three sward heights (15, 25 and 35 cm), the design was randomized block, and the blocking factor was the year 2007/08 and 2008/09. The analyses were developed using 72 identified tiller, where were measured leaf appearance rate, phyllochron, leaf expansion rate, leaf life span, leaf number and stem elongation rate. Results showed that increasing 1 cm on sward height decrease the appearance on 0.0006 mm leaf/day and that this increase causes increase in 0.18 tiller/day the phyllochoron; 0.10 tiller/day the leaf expansion; 0.85 mm tiller/day the leaf life span; 0.035 the leaf number; 4.48 mm the leaf size; and 0.0154 mm tiller/day the stem size. Hence, can be affirmed that different sward height changed both morphogenic and structural variables from Marandu grass.