Tiago Celso Baldissera

Plant development controls leaf area expansion in alfalfa plants competing for light

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The growth of crops in a mixture is more variable and difficult to predict than that in pure stands. Light partitioning and crop leaf area expansion play prominent roles in explaining this variability. However, in many crops commonly grown in mixtures, including the forage species alfalfa, the sensitivity and relative importance of the physiological responses involved in the light modulation of leaf area expansion are still to be established. This study was designed to assess the relative sensitivity of primary shoot development, branching and individual leaf expansion in alfalfa in response to light availability. METHODS Two experiments were carried out. The first studied isolated plants to assess the potential development of different shoot types and growth periods. The second consisted of manipulating the intensity of competition for light using a range of canopies in pure and mixed stands at two densities so as to evaluate the relative effects on shoot development, leaf growth, and plant and shoot demography. KEY RESULTS Shoot development in the absence of light competition was deterministic (constant phyllochrons of 32·5 °Cd and 48·2 °Cd for primary axes and branches, branching probability of 1, constant delay of 1·75 phyllochron before axillary bud burst) and identical irrespective of shoot type and growth/regrowth periods. During light competition experiments, changes in plant development explained most of the plant leaf area variations, with average leaf size contributing to a lesser extent. Branch development and the number of shoots per plant were the leaf area components most affected by light availability. Primary axis development and plant demography were only affected in situations of severe light competition. CONCLUSIONS Plant leaf area components differed with regard to their sensitivity to light competition. The potential shoot development model presented in this study could serve as a framework to integrate light responses in alfalfa crop models.

Seletividade de herbicidas em trevo-branco no estádio fenológico de expansão do primeiro trifólio

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is a forage used in the composition of crop system models. The objective of this study was to investigate the selectivity of herbicides on white clover seedlings, applied at the first trifoliate growth expanding. It was carried out an experiment in randomized blocks, with 19 treatments and three replications. White clover can be considered as tolerant to bentazon + imazethapyr, imazethapyr, bentazon and 2,4-D, because it was observed biomass production higher than 1.300 kg ha-1 in those treatments and phytotoxicity lower than 25% at 84 days after herbicides sprayed on seedling under phenological stage of plants expanding the first trifoliate.

Sward structure and relationship between canopy height and light interception for tropical C4 grasses growing under trees

Abstract. The canopy height (CH) at 95% light interception (LI) is a valuable defoliation frequency strategy used to handle variability in herbage accumulation throughout the year, mainly in C4 grasses. Such a strategy has been adopted as an open pasture management index, but defoliation frequency and intensity remain unsolved issues for shade-grown forages. A field experiment was conducted for 2 years to determine the influence of tree canopy (Eucalyptus dunnii) shading and nitrogen availability (0 and 300 kg N ha–1 year–1) on CH at 95% LI of six perennial tropical forage species. The plots were cut at 95% LI, and the height of the residual sward was kept at 50% of the corresponding CH at 95% LI. The shade level ranged from ∼40% at the beginning of the experiment to ∼60% at the end of summer 2013. Variations in CH at 95% LI occurred because of shading and across seasons. The range of these variations was species-dependent. Overall, species growing under trees showed higher CH, except for Paspalum notatum and Megathyrsus maximus in the first year. There was a significant increase in the length of the sheaths and leaves, as well as a decrease in tiller density and leaf : stem ratio in plants growing under trees. Nitrogen also had an impact on CH; however, its application did not compensate the shade effect on CH. Therefore, our results suggest that greater CH should be considered in case of defoliated, shade-grown plants and that such strategy might change throughout seasons.