Abstract

MEJIA-KERGUELEN, Sergio; TAPIA-CORONADO, José Jaime; ATENCIO-SOLANO, Liliana Margarita  and  CADENA-TORRES, Jorge. Production and nutritional quality of sweet sorghum forage in monoculture and intercropped with corn and beans. Pastos y Forrajes [online]. 2019, vol.42, n.2, pp. 133-142. ISSN 2078-8452.

In order to evaluate the productivity and green forage quality of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench cv. Corpoica JJT-18 in monoculture and intercropped with corn and beans, a trial was conducted in the Caribbean region of Colombia, in which five treatments were evaluated consisting in sowing S. bicolor cv. Corpoica JJT-18 in monoculture and intercropped with Zea mays L. and Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. A completely randomized design was used with three repetitions. The green forage yield of S. bicolor in monoculture (77,92 t ha-1) was significantly higher than that of corn (61,04 t ha-1), and no significant increases were observed because of intercropping. On the other hand, the total green forage productivity in the intercropped systems was 84,58; 86,67 and 82,92 t ha-1 in sorghum/beans, sorghum/corn and sorghum/corn/beans, respectively. The bromatological analyses indicated that the green forage produced by sweet sorghum showed a nutritional quality similar to corn in the CP, NDF and ADF content, and higher in soluble solids. On the contrary, in situ degradability and dry matter content were higher in the green forage of corn. It is concluded that S. bicolor is a viable alternative for substituting corn in green forage production systems, for animal supplementation in the Colombian Caribbean.

Keywords : animal feeding; drought; productivity.

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