Publication Date
1989
Description
Species of Brachiaria, introduced in the 1950's and 1960's, are wide-spread in both savanna and cleared forest regions of the lowland tropics of South America. Large areas, c. 15 x 106 ha, have been sown to Brachiaria spp. in the Cerrados of Brazil. A major limitation to the use of exotic grasses in the Cerrados is the incidence of spittlebugs. The widely-sown Brachiaria decumbens, B. ruziziensis and B. humidicola are all very susceptible to these insect pests. In view of the considerable importance of Brachiaria spp. to the pasture economy of tropical America, CIAT's (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) Tropical Pasture Program assembled about 1 000 accessions of Brachiaria spp. for evaluation. Of these, more than 800 accessions were collected in the natural habitat of the genus in East and Central Africa by Dr. G. Keller-Grein, the personnel of collaborating national institutions of these regions and ILCA (International Livestock Center for Africa)). The objectives of this preliminary evaluation project were characterization and agronomic assessment of the collection but, in particular to identify high yielding accessions resistant to spittlebug and tolerant to acid-soil.
Citation
Grof, B; de Andrade, R P.; Franca-Dantas, M S.; and de Souza, M A., "Selection of Brachiaria spp. for the Acid-Soil Savannas of the Central Plateau Region of Brazil" (2025). IGC Proceedings (1989-2023). 41.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1989/session3/41
Included in
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Selection of Brachiaria spp. for the Acid-Soil Savannas of the Central Plateau Region of Brazil
Species of Brachiaria, introduced in the 1950's and 1960's, are wide-spread in both savanna and cleared forest regions of the lowland tropics of South America. Large areas, c. 15 x 106 ha, have been sown to Brachiaria spp. in the Cerrados of Brazil. A major limitation to the use of exotic grasses in the Cerrados is the incidence of spittlebugs. The widely-sown Brachiaria decumbens, B. ruziziensis and B. humidicola are all very susceptible to these insect pests. In view of the considerable importance of Brachiaria spp. to the pasture economy of tropical America, CIAT's (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) Tropical Pasture Program assembled about 1 000 accessions of Brachiaria spp. for evaluation. Of these, more than 800 accessions were collected in the natural habitat of the genus in East and Central Africa by Dr. G. Keller-Grein, the personnel of collaborating national institutions of these regions and ILCA (International Livestock Center for Africa)). The objectives of this preliminary evaluation project were characterization and agronomic assessment of the collection but, in particular to identify high yielding accessions resistant to spittlebug and tolerant to acid-soil.
