Morphophysiology of Panicum maximum cv. Mombaca canopy under intermittent stocking grazing of three rest periods

The tissue flow and structural traits of Panicum maximum cv. Mombaca canopy were evaluated under intermittent stocking, with rest period (RP) defined in terms of the time required for the expansion of 2.5; 3.5 and 4.5 new leaves per tiller. The pasture treatment was divided into five or six paddocks (replicates) per treatment, observing a completely randomized design. One group of five Holstein-Zebu crossbred steers, as testers, grazed the paddocks of the respective treatment during six days. Put and taken steers were used, when necessary, to obtain a residual leaf area index (LAI) of about 2.0, by the end of the 6(th) grazing day. During the RPs of three grazing cycles, leaf elongation rate (LER), leaf senescence rate (LSR), culm elongation rate (CER) and net herbage accumulation rate (NHAR) were estimated. By the beginning and end of each RP, the following structural variables were estimated: canopy height, green herbage dry matter (GHDM) and leaf/culm ratio. Tiller population density JPD) was assessed after each grazing period. The variables CER and leaf/culm ratio were markedly affected by the RP. Only the short 2.5 leaves RP exerted some Control upon culm elongation. Marked canopy plasticity was observed in response to RPs. LER (7.6 cm/tiller x day) and TPD (350 tillers/m(2)) were the determinant growth components in 2.5 leaves canopy, while CER (0.29 cm/tiller x day) was the important growth component in the 4.5 leaves canopy regrowth. The longer the RP, the higher the canopy height and the GHDM, due to increasing contribution of culm fraction, which brought about marked reduction in leaf/culm ratio.