Indication
It is a Brachiaria with excellent potential for forage production (up to 18 t/ha/year of dry matter). It is recommended for soils of medium to high fertility. It has tolerance to poorly drained soils or short-term flooding. A very robust pasture and competitive against invasive weeds. Used for direct grazing by animals and for silage, being indicated for the rearing and fattening of cattle and milk production. Recommended for intensive rotational grazing systems.
Urochloa brizantha cv. MG-5 Vitória
Brachiaria brizantha cv. MG-5 Vitória
Soils of medium to high fertility, tolerates clayey soils and areas with temporary drainage and waterlogging issues.
Direct grazing and silage
10 to 18 t/ha/year of dry matter (DM)
8.7 to 13.5%
1.60m
Good
Good
Very good
Medium resistance
Good
Perennial
Use and Management
The MG-5 is a Brachiaria grass characterized by its ruggedness and forage production potential. Among the options in the market, it has the highest production capacity (up to 18 t/ha/year of dry matter). It is recommended for soils of medium to high fertility. It has good tolerance to areas with poor drainage, where the soil retains small water layers for short periods. It regrows aggressively and competes well against weeds in the cerrado. It responds well to topdressing fertilization, especially nitrogen. It is recommended for direct grazing by cattle and for silage, suitable for rearing, fattening, and dairy production. The best results for MG-5 were obtained in rotational grazing. Approximately 50 to 60 days after seed germination, the first grazing should be performed on MG-5, avoiding maturity, loss of nutritional quality, and consequently reduced acceptability by animals. In rotational grazing, paddocks should rest for 20 to 25 days during the hot and rainy season or when plants reach 60 to 80 cm in height, with 1 to 5 days of use. During the dry and cold season, the rest period for the area is much longer. In the case of continuous grazing, the minimum grazing height is about 20 cm, at which point there are more stems than leaves. Being a late-flowering cultivar, its use during the rainy season should be intensified, with high grazing pressure (forage production x number of animals). Due to its late flowering, its adaptation to the dry season is also much better.
Origin
In 1996, Matsuda began the evaluation and selection of some accessions from its germplasm bank, conducting trials and selecting these materials in various locations throughout Brazil. The first result of this selection was the cultivar MG-5 Vitória of Brachiaria brizantha, whose accession number at CIAT is 26110 and at Embrapa BRA 004308. This material was collected by Keller-Grein from CIAT, in agreement with ISABU (National Research Institution of Burundi) in Africa, between the cities of Bubanza and Bukinanyama, in the state of Cibitoke / Burundi, at coordinates 020 53’ S and 260 20’ W in Africa. This location is situated at 1,510 meters above sea level with an average annual precipitation of 1,710 mm of rainfall.
Morphological Characteristics
This cultivar is a perennial grass, polyploid with apomictic reproduction, and may be pentaploid according to some studies, meaning it has five sets of chromosomes, unlike Marandu and MG 4 which are tetraploid. This extra set of chromosomes can provide this cultivar with excellent vegetative vigor and high productivity. It grows in tussocks with prostrate stems that can root when in closer contact with the soil, and can reach up to 1.60m in height. The leaves are lanceolate with little pubescence, and it has panicle-shaped inflorescences measuring 40 to 50 cm, usually with 4 racemes.
Agronomic Characteristics
The MG-5 Vitória is a vigorously growing plant that should be intensely grazed, respecting the rest period (20 to 25 days in the hot and rainy season). It is important to avoid the plant from maturing. About 50 days after emergence, consider the possibility of starting grazing, avoiding its physiological maturity, which compromises acceptability by animals (mature, fibrous, lignified pasture with loss of nutritional quality). Although it adapts to acidic and sandy soils, this cultivar showed the best yields in soils of medium to high fertility, thriving very well in sandy soils and adapting well to poorly drained soils. During droughts, it maintains more green leaves than the Marandu and MG 4 cultivars of B. brizantha. The regrowth after grazing of the MG-5 Vitória cultivar surpassed that of the Brachiaria brizantha Marandu cultivar. One of the most important characteristics of this cultivar, besides having a later cycle, is its good dry matter production.
