Abstract

Use of elephant grass for energy production in Campos dos Goytacazes-RJ, Brazil

Author(s): R.F. Daher, L.B. Souza, G.A. Gravina, J.C. Machado, H.C.C. Ramos, V.Q.R. Silva, B.R.S. Menezes, L.S.A. Schneider, M.L.F. Oliveira and R.D. Gottardo

Elephant grass is a tropical forage plant widely distributed throughout Brazil. It was first exclusively used in the livestock sector as cattle feed. The grass is characterized by its high productivity and photosynthetic capacity and is considered as an alternative source of renewable energy. Here, we estimated the general combining ability of the parents and specific combining ability of the hybrids based on morpho-agronomic biomass-quality traits. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with 3 replicates. The diallel was composed of 16 hybrids and 2 groups of genitors. In the diallel analysis of variance, we observed a significant difference among treatments. A significant difference was observed among genitors for dry matter production (DMP).

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