Productivity, Nutritional Quality and Phenotypical Stability of Varieties and Hybrids of Silage Sorghum in UberlÂNdia, MG - Brazil.

PRODUCTIVITY, NUTRITIONAL QUALITY AND PHENOTYPICAL STABILITY OF VARIETIES AND HYBRIDS OF SILAGE SORGHUM IN UBERLÂNDIA, MG - BRAZIL

The cultivation potential of sorghum for silage in the off-season is limited mainly by the low supply of cultivars insensitive to the photoperiod. The objective of this work was to evaluate the nutritional quality, productivity and stability of varieties and hybrids of silage sorghum in the season and off-season crop in the county of Uberlândia, MG, Brazil. In the continuous area, two experiments were carried out with 25 hybrids and 25 sorghum varieties under a randomized complete block design with three replications. Flowering of cultivars, dry matter yield, plant height, the Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF), the Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) and Crude Protein (CP) were affected by the environment and cultivar. The varieties are more promising for use as forage in the off-season and the hybrids in the season. Regarding production stability, SF15, SF11, SF25 and PROG 134 IPA varieties were superior, independently of the evaluated environment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author thanks FAPEMIG, CNPq and Capes for financial support.