Abstract
This work aimed to characterize physically and physiologically buffelgrass seeds collected in different municipalities located in the semiarid region of Bahia and at different positions in the panicle. At each site, two hundred mature, whole panicles were collected when seeds were naturally falling. A 5 × 3 factorial in a completely randomized design was used. Factors were five municipalities where seeds were collected and three positions within the panicle (bottom, middle and top portions), with four replicates of 50 seeds for each treatment. Moisture content, dry seed weight, electrical conductivity, germination percentage, germination speed index and emergence speed index were assessed. Data were tested by analysis of variance and Tukey test at 5% of significance level. Soil and climate conditions of each region affect the physiological quality of buffelgrass seeds. Seeds located in bottom and middle portions of the panicle are more vigorous than seeds located in the top portion. The municipality of Poções has better conditions for yielding buffelgrass seeds of better quality than the remaining municipalities.
Highlights
Buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliares L.), a forage perennial grass belonging to the Poaceae family, is native to Africa and is widely grown across warm climates worldwide owing to its easy establishment, high nutritional value, and tolerance for drought, contributing to the reduction of nutritional deficiencies in livestock
The species was introduced to Brazil in São Paulo state, it was brought to northeastern states, where the semiarid climate predominates
Studies on germination and differentiation of physiological quality of buffelgrass seeds positioned at different locations of the panicle are lacking; this work aimed to carry out physical and physiological characterizations of buffelgrass seeds from different positions within the panicle of plants from the semiarid region of Bahia state, Brazil
Summary
Buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliares L.), a forage perennial grass belonging to the Poaceae family, is native to Africa and is widely grown across warm climates worldwide owing to its easy establishment, high nutritional value, and tolerance for drought, contributing to the reduction of nutritional deficiencies in livestock. There, it proved to be relevant due to its resistance to drought (Moreira, Lira, Santos, Araújo, & Silva, 2007). Livestock farming is economically and socially important for the Brazilian semiarid, despite the fact that food availability to animals is limiting in this region, in the dry season. Caatinga, is the main food source to livestock (Santos et al, 2011), in which buffelgrass stands out as the main forage grass cultivated in important ruminant-raising regions in the Brazilian semiarid (Oliveira et al, 2016)
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