Caracterização de cultivares de sorgo para produção de vassoura artesanal e forragem no semiárido mineiro

Abstract

Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal in the world, and in Brazil it is mainly intended for grain and forage production; however, there is a high demand for other purposes, such as the production of brooms in family farming. Thus, production systems must be constantly improved to supply the productive needs of different sectors. The objective was to evaluate broom sorghum cultivars under different plant densities and places of seeding in the North of Minas Gerais on the main industrial, agronomic and chemical characteristics. Each experiment was carried out in a randomized block design in a 3 x 3 factorial scheme with three replications, with three cultivars (IAC 10V50, IAC 10V60 and IAC 10V70) and three plant densities (80, 120 and 160 thousand plants ha-1 ). For each increase of 1,000 plants ha-1 , there was a decrease of approximately 4 cm in panicle size and an increase in the number of panicles without defects. In Janaúba they were higher productivity, greater panicle size (52 cm), greater rachis diameter and greater number of panicles without defect. The cultivar IAC 10V50 showed the highest amount of panicles without defect (51.11%) and the lowest amount of “M” defects (1.26%), being more indicated regardless of the place of cultivation.