Establishment of new drought-tolerant varieties of Cenchrus purpureus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/nc8qa216Keywords:
Pennisetum purpureum, drought, grasses, forage productionAbstract
Introduction. Drought can reduce grain production by up to 50 % and drastically reduce the biomass of pastures and forages used for animal feed. Objective. To evaluate the establishment of ten new varieties of Cenchrus purpureus that are tolerant to drought under conditions of intense seasonal drought in Cauto Valley, Cuba. Materials and methods. The present study used a randomized block design with four replicates to evaluate ten new varieties of Cenchrus purpureus (CT-600, CT-601, CT-602, CT-603, CT-604, CT-605, CT-606, CT-607, CT-608 and CT-609) on Fluvisol soil in an area of intense seasonal drought in Cuba, from November 2019 to May 2020. The variety CT-115 was used as a control. At the time of sprouting, soil moisture, plant height, leaf area, biomass yield, and leaf-to-stem ratio were monitored and calculated. Results. During the first 12 days after planting, varieties CT-608, CT-607, CT-609, CT-600, CT-115, and CT-603 showed a higher percentage of sprouting (p ≤ 0.05), a response maintained at 19 days. The varieties CT-603 and CT-608 reached the highest sprouting capacity, exceeding 60 % in 29 days, followed by CT-600 and CT-609 with more than 50 %, and then CT-607 with 44 % (p ≤ 0.05). The remaining varieties, including the control, exhibited slower sprouting, with values ranging from 20 to 40 % by that period. Conclusions. At the establishment cut, no significant differences were found between varieties in height, growth, leaf area, and dry matter (DM) yield; however, biomass structure indicators varied, with only CT-604 surpassing the control in leaf-to-stem ratio (2.1 vs. 1.5) and leaf percentage (67.4 vs. 57.8 %). The new varieties demonstrated the capacity to establish under the conditions evaluated.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Jorge Valentín Wright-Ramírez, José Leonardo Ledea Rodríguez, Dalibia Díaz-Fonseca, Rafael Herrera-García, Ramón Crucito Arias-Pérez, José Alfredo Guevara-Franco (Autor/a)
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