Indication
It is a forage grass recommended for soils with medium to low fertility, acidity, shallowness, and even gravel. Recommended for cattle in breeding, rearing, and fattening phases, as well as for horses, sheep, and goats in drier climates. It is resistant to pasture spittlebugs.
Andropogon gayanus cv. Planaltina
Low to medium fertility, shallow, acidic, and gravelly soils.
Direct grazing or haymaking
8 to 14 t/ha/year of dry matter (DM)
6 to 9%
1.30m to 1.80m
Good
Good
High
It has physical resistance (hairs)
Medium
Perennial
Origin
Originating from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), it is found as spontaneous vegetation in the Gold Coast and Nigeria. This variety was introduced throughout South America. It was commercially released in 1980 by Embrapa CNPC.
Agronomic Characteristics
It is a forage species that tolerates acidic soils, areas with rainfall above 700 mm, and regrows even after burning.
Use and Management
Andropogon is a pasture recommended for regions with drier climates, sandy soils, low fertility, shallow soils, or with gravel presence. It is well accepted by cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. It has physical resistance to pasture spittlebugs. During planting, it is recommended that the seeds be incorporated to a depth of 0.5 - 1 cm. It should be avoided to let the plants mature and lose their nutritional qualities, as they become lignified and fibrous, affecting even the animals' intake. Grazing should commence when the plants reach 50 cm, and grazing should cease at a height of 18 to 20 cm from the ground.
Morphological Characteristics
Perennial, tussock-forming plant with ciliated nodes and pedicels on both faces; pedicels with hairy and villous spikelets; callos with a dense fringe of hairs, frontal and lateral; awn measuring 2 to 3 cm in length. It presents morphological and anatomical characteristics almost entirely panicoid, however, the embryo has festucoid characteristics, with an epiblast and absence of a scutellar cleft.
