Production and nutritional quality of black oat forage grown in different population stands under a successive cutting regime

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to evaluate the agronomic productive and qualitative traits of forage of black oats grown in different stands of plants. The experimental design was a 2 x 2 factorial randomized complete block design consisting of four treatments, two plant stands (175 and 350 plants m2) associated with two successive cutting periods (vegetative and full vegetative) and four replications. The stand of plants did not influence the production of dry biomass; with 175 plants m2, we obtained a compensatory effect by the greater number of tillers m2-1 and/or tiller plant-1. The population stand influenced the chemical parameters, where 175 plants m2 resulted in forage with higher contents of hemicellulose and total digestible nutrients and a lower content of neutral detergent fiber. In the comparison between cuts, the first cut compared to the second presented higher values of crude protein (26.53%). It is recommended that the black oat be cultivated with a population stand of 175 plants m2 for generating an increase in the number of tillers m2-1 and tillers plant-1, in addition to improving the in situ dry matter digestibility of the whole plant, without causing reduction of production of dry biomass per unit area.