Wood Ash as a Corrective and Fertilizer in the Cultivation of Mombaça and Massai Grass in Oxisol

Abstract

The aim of this work was to estimate the yields of Panicum maximum cv. Mombaça and Panicum maximumcv. Massai in response to the plant ash doses in Oxisol. The experiment, following a completely randomized design, was conducted in a greenhouse and arranged in a 5x2 factorial design, which included 10 treatments and five replications, constituting 50 experimental plots. The treatments involved the addition of five plant ash doses (0, 8, 16, 24 and 32 g dm-3) and two Panicum species: Panicum maximum cv Mombaça and Panicum maximum cv Massai. The experimental unit was a soil-filled container, 5 dm3 in capacity. The characteristics assessed included: plant height, number of tillers, chlorophyll index and shoot dry mass. The plant was cut at a height of 5 cm from the soil surface. The findings were submitted to the analysis of variance and when significance was noted, the data were submitted to the Tukey test and regression analysis using the statistical program SISVAR. In terms of the soil pH, a notable effect was recorded for the vegetable ash doses applied to the soil, which exert a corrective effect on the soil. Plant height and number of tillers were the variables that revealed significance for the interaction between the Panicum cultivar and plant ash doses at 35 days after plant emergence. The soil ash induced the greatest levels of chlorophyll and dry mass of the aerial parts, registering a spurt in the dry mass of the aerial parts for both forages, signifying that the management performed with the vegetable ash favored the growth and yield of the Mombaça and Massai grasses.