Soybean intercropping with forage grasses to reform degraded pastures

It is a production system intercropping soybeans and fodder by overseeding the forage species when soybeans are at their reproductive stage (R5 to R7). This crop management strategy makes it possible to carry out a second harvest (off-season cattle), after the soybean harvest, in Cerrado regions, where water limitations reduce the sowing window and increase the risk of dry spells - which makes the cultivation of the off-season corn crop in succession to soybeans unfeasible.

In this context, the recovery of degraded areas is one of the system’s several positive results, since forage grasses can also be used as a cover plant (in properties that are not interested in animal feed). This offers an alternative for soil cover in no-till farming systems, since this technology allows the high supply of plant biomass, with an increase in soil carbon content. With this, it is possible to obtain higher productivity and increase the sustainability and resilience of the production system in regions with greater climate instability. Among the options of forage plants, we highlight the cultivars of the species Panicum maximum, which promote the greatest increases in productivity in this system in Tocantins.

This technological solution was developed by Embrapa in partnership with other institution(s).