Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, Iraida; SCHULTZE-KRAFT, Rainer  and  GUEVARA, Eunice. Seed yield potential of the forage legume Centrosema pascuorum Mart. : ex Bentham in the Mesa of Guanipa, Anzoátegui state, Venezuela. Zootecnia Trop. [online]. 2006, vol.24, n.3, pp.251-266. ISSN 0798-7269.

An experiment was conducted at the experimental station of INIA, located in El Tigre, Anzoategui State, Venezuela, with the purpose to evaluate the agronomic performance, the seed production, and phenological atributes of a Centrosema pascuorum collection. A randomized block design was used with 12 treatments (germplasm accessions) and four replications. The accessions used in this experiment were collected in Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama and Paraguay, and are representative of the natural distribution of the specie. The seed production data (g/plant, kg/ha) were analyzed according with the randomized block model an randomized model to analyzed the germination (%) and 100-seed weight (g), comparing the means of both cases using the Tukey test. The confidence interval was used to group the accessions in early, intermediate, and late with respect to flowering and fructification. The association grade was determined among the variables trough simple lineal correlation of Pearson, using the means of the parameters. The results showed that in the Mesa de Guanipa are adequate climatic and soils conditions for the seed production of many of the accessions, outstanding CIAT 5177, 5533, and 25162 with the highest values. The Venezuelan accessions have early to intermediate flowering, small and mottled seeds and moderate germination. The late flowering characteristics of the Australian cv. Bundey (CIAT 5289) represent an advantage for the zone, with the possibility to obtain forage at the end of the rainy season, besides to produce acceptable amount of seeds. However, it is necessary to complete this work with the dry matter production to compare the total performance of the accessions.

Keywords : Centrosema pascuorum; forage legume; seed yield; flowering.