Autoria: OLIVEIRA, J. R. de; HÜTHER, C. M.; DONAGEMMA, G. K.; CORRÊA, G. M.; DIAS, T. G.; BATISTA, I.; CORREIA, M. E. F.

Resumo: After the collapse of the coffee cycle, coffee fields were replaced by pastures, driving the expansion of extensive livestock farming in Brazil due to the low cost and reduced demand for labor required for the new economic activity. Livestock farming became dominant because it offered versatile products, and still has a central role in the economy today, as Brazil is currently the world's second largest producer and largest exporter of beef. However, the extensive livestock farming that is highly prevalent in the country, characterized by livestock raised on pastures and inadequate management, has led to around 62% of Brazilian pastures suffering some level of degradation, compromising their productivity. With this in mind, this study sought to assess the photochemical capacity of Brachiaria brizantha plants when grown at different levels of soil degradation. To this end, the treatments consisted of pasture areas formed by the Brachiaria brizantha forage species and were delimited according to levels of degradation: N1 - low level of degradation; N2 - moderate level of degradation; and N3 - high level of degradation. To measure transient chlorophyll a fluorescence, 15 B. brizantha leaves were randomly selected from each treatment, totaling 15 repetitions for each treatment. The results indicate that the levels of pasture degradation have a significant impact on the photochemical activity of Brachiaria brizantha, requiring the plant to develop specific adaptive mechanisms.

Ano de publicação: 2024

Tipo de publicação: Artigo em anais e proceedings

Unidade: Embrapa Solos