Populações de plantas em milho cultivado na safra e safrinha visando produção de etanol

Abstract

In Brazil, corn production is concentrated in the summer or first harvest and in the dry or off- season harvest, where, in these seasons, the adjustment in the plant population and the choice of the hybrid are among the most important practices employed in the culture aiming at a better use of available resources. In this sense, the present work aimed to evaluate the effect of plant populations in two corn hybrids, in normal and late season crops, aiming at ethanol production. Two experiments were carried out, one installed on regular season crop (12/14/2018) and the second in the off-season crop (02/06/2019), in the experimental area of the Federal University of Tocantins, in Palmas, TO. The experimental design used in each experiment was randomized blocks (DBC), with 10 treatments and four replications. The treatments were arranged in a 2 x 5 factorial scheme, represented by two simple hybrids (2A401 PW and MG580 PW) and five plant populations (42,000, 49,500, 57,000, 64,500, and 72,000 plants.ha-1). following characteristics: carbohydrate content (%), and carbohydrate yield (kg.ha-1). Populations and sowing periods (harvest and off-season) affected carbohydrate content and yield. The hybrids 2A401PW and MG580PW, presented, respectively, higher carbohydrate content when cultivated in the off-season and in the harvest. The hybrid MG580 PW presented itself as potentially promising for the production of ethanol in crop and off-season cultivation. There is a need for future studies with other plant populations aiming at maximum carbohydrate yield, which will directly reflect in a greater ethanol production