Densidad de siembra y crecimiento de maíces forrajeros

plant density and growth of forage maize genotypes. a study was conducted to identify genotypes of maize with high forage potential. the first experiment (e1) was conducted from november 2007 to february 2008, evaluating the genotypes h-520, he-1a17, he-2a15, v-556ac, vs-536, a7573 and a native variety, at three densities (50000, 62500 and 83333 plants/ha) and with four replications. in a second experiment (e2) (january to april 2009) the hybrids he-1a17 and 2a15 were excluded and h-564c was added. the treatments were the combination of genotypes and sowing densities, in a randomized block design. analysis of variance for each experiment were conducted, and combined and comparison of means, by tukey (p≤0.05). in the first experiment, the native genotype, average of densities, had the highest plant height (e1=247, e2=216 cm), total leaf area (e =5834, e =7516 cm2) and leaf area index (e =3.8; e2=4.9), stem diameter (e1= 6.6; e2=7.5 cm) and forage yield (e1=44.3 t/ha). in the second experiment, h-564c (e2=36.6 t/ha) surpassed the control. the density of 83333 plants/ha, average of genotypes, surpassed in forage yield (e1=35.8; e2=37.3 t/ha) the density of 62500 plants and 50000 plants/ ha. for density, the maximum yield by genotype was established at 83333 plants/ha in the native variety, which produced 57 t/ha of forage. on average of the densities, the maximum leaf area index was achieved with 83333 plants/ha, and the lowest was obtained with 50000 plants per hectare.