The intercrop of corn for silage with Brachiaria brizantha was evaluated in sowing arrangements associated with weed management, under conventional tillage, in an area highly infested with Brachiaria plantaginea. The treatments consisted of five sowing arrangements (corn alone; B. brizantha alone; two lines of B. brizantha in between lines of corn, simultaneously planted; B. brizantha planted by throwing on the day corn was sown and 30 days after), two weed managements (1.50 kg ha-1 of atrazine applied alone and in combination of 1.50 kg ha-1 atrazine with 4.00 g ha-1 nicosulfuron), besides four controls (corn and B. brizantha alone, with and without weeding), arranged in a randomized complete block design, in split plot, with four repetitions. Herbicide application was performed 18 days after corn emergence. Thirty days after herbicide application and corn harvest for silage, dry biomass of weeds and B. brizantha was estimated. Sixty days after harvest, a new estimate of dry biomass of B. brizantha was performed. Corn production for silage was not affected by the sowing arrangements, being higher in the treatments with atrazine+nicosulfuron and in the weeding controls. The dry biomass of B. brizantha was higher in treatments with atrazine+nicosulfuron, in relation to application of atrazine alone, due to competition of Brachiaria plantaginea and/or corn. Two B. brizantha lines in between lines of corn simultaneously planted, promoted the highest dry biomass production of B. Brizantha.
competition; nicosulfuron; sowing arrangement; pasture
