Indication
It is recommended for soils with medium to high fertility. It can be used in breeding, rearing, and fattening of cattle, as well as for milk production, in direct grazing, silage, and haymaking. It is a variety easy to manage due to its good distribution of forage production throughout the year, and it can also be used in extensive pastures or as a forage reserve for dry periods (deferred grazing). It has good tolerance to pasture spittlebugs.
Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandú
Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandú
Medium to high fertility, does not tolerate poorly drained soil
Direct grazing or haymaking
10 to 14 tons/ha/year of dry matter (DM)
1.00 to 1.50m
Good
Good
Medium
Resistant
Medium
Perennial
Origin
The Marandu cultivar originates from Tropical Africa, was commercially released in Brazil by EMBRAPA in 1984, and its origin was the germplasm introduced in the region of Ibirarema-SP, coming from the Pasture Experimental Station of Zimbabwe, in Marondera - Africa
Agronomic Characteristics
It is not attacked by leaf-cutter ants (saúva and quen-quen) and is resistant to the attack of pasture spittlebugs (Notozulia entreliana and Deois flavopicta).
Use and Management
Marandu grass is recommended for soils with medium to high fertility and good drainage. It is suitable for breeding, rearing, fattening, and milk production of cattle, through direct grazing, silage, and haymaking. Marandu grass is recommended for use in rotational grazing and post-use recovery to maximize forage utilization. However, due to its ease of management with a good distribution of forage production throughout the year, it can also be used in extensive grazing properties or strategically for forage reserves during dry periods, known as standing hay. In rotational grazing, paddocks should rest for 28 to 30 days during the hot and rainy season, with 1 to 5 days of use. Plants can be grazed when they reach 60 to 80 cm in height. During the dry and cold season, the resting time of the area is much longer. In continuous grazing, the minimum grazing height is about 20 to 25 cm; below this, the buds may be eliminated. In newly formed areas, grazing can occur approximately 90 days after seed germination, always depending on weather conditions
Morphological Characteristics
A tufted and very robust plant, 1.5 to 2.0 m tall, with initially prostrate culms, but predominantly erect tillers. It has very short and curved rhizomes. The flowering culms are erect, often with tillering at the upper nodes, leading to the proliferation of inflorescences, especially under cutting and grazing regimes. Sheaths are hairy with cilia on the margins, usually longer than the internodes, hiding the nodes, giving the impression of dense hairiness on the vegetative culms. Leaf blades are linear-lanceolate, sparsely hairy on the ventral surface and glabrous on the dorsal surface. The inflorescence is up to 40 cm long, usually with 4 to 6 racemes, quite evenly spaced along the axis, measuring 7 to 10 cm in length, but can reach 20 cm in very vigorous plants. Spikelets are uniserial along the rachis, oblong to elliptical-oblong, measuring 5.0 to 5.5 mm in length by 2.0 to 2.5 mm in width, sparsely hairy at the apex.