Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic traits of 80 accessions of elephant grass under the soil and weather conditions of Campos dos Goytacazes/RJ, Brazil. The experimental design was set as randomized blocks with 2 replicates. The experiment continued from March 2012 to May 2013, with 5 harvests made in the dry and rainy seasons. The following traits were assessed: percentage of dry matter (%DM), dry matter yield (DMY), number of tillers per meter (NT), plant height (HGT), stem diameter (SD), leaf blade width (LBW) and leaf blade length (LBL). Data from each harvest were subjected to analysis of variance and to the Scott-Knott test (P < 0.05). Tocher’s optimization method, Mahalanobis distance, and canonical variables were utilized for the multiple traits, and the importance of the characters in the canonical variables. Genotypes with high yield were Elefante da Colômbia, Taiwan A-25, Albano, Hib. Gigante da Colômbia, Elefante de Pinda, Taiwan A-121, P241 Piracicaba, Guaçu/I.Z.2, CPAC, EMPASC 309, EMPASC 307, Australiano, and Pasto Panamá. Stem diameter (rainy season) and LBW (dry season) were the most important variables to differentiate between genotypes. There was wide phenotypic variation between genotypes, which could be divided into 15 groups by Tocher’s optimization method.

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