Caracterización morfológica, biomasa aérea y calidad en distintas poblaciones de Trichloris crinita

A large part of Argentina, is covered with natural grasslands, suitable for livestock use. However, those ecosystems have lost biodiversity and productivity due to anthropogenic use, caused mainly by displacement of livestock activities toward marginal areas, showing major production constraints and pointing out the weakness of these environments. Trichloris crinita (Lag.) Parodi, is a key species for rangeland management in Caldenal and Monte Regions. Therefore it is considered suitable to be used in reclamation processes, because it has also developed in these environments. The objective of this work was to characterize and evaluate the agronomic performance of 13 populations of Trichloris crinita in the field. Furthermore, seed germination, height and number of plant leaves were evaluated in the greenhouse. Transplanting was carried out when the plants reached the 4-5 leaf state. Determinations began to be performed at 8 months of transplantation; recounts of number of panicles, plant height, canopy height, plant diameter, number of tillers, biomass and forage quality (CP, DMD and NDF) were made. Populations with higher biomass were found, agreeing with tillering and plant diameter. Even though in this work seed production was not measured; it was possible to observe a greater number of inflorescences in some populations, including those of Caldenal and Ecotono Caldenal-Monte. One of the populations showed very low persistence after cutting; this phenotype is not suitable for grazing. Populations in general showed forage quality similar to other summer species. One of the populations (Catamarca), in addition to its aerial high biomass, also showed a good quality of forage. According to the results, it was concluded that there is variability among the populations studied, wich will be selected according to their agronomic importance, considering mainly the total biomass, quality, seed setting and its persistence under cutting.