The experiment was carried out from January to July 1996 to evaluate the growth of three forage species (Brachiaria decumbens, Brachiaria mutica and Setaria anceps) cultivated in vases, under two handling situations (with and without being cut before the treatments) and in six different conditions (10, 20 and 30 days, with and without flooding). In order to perform the growth evaluations, the production of leaves, stem and dead material dry matter were analyzed in two cuts referring to the first growth and the new sprout of the plants in the vases. During the experimental period, two plants in each pot were measured every seven days as regards to the length of the main buds (Oliveira, 1989), as well as the number of leaves present. The results were not different in both situations. Some differences were only found for the S. anceps (a cespitose specie). B. mutica was the best-adapted species, not having modified its growth, even when submitted to the largest flooding periods. Those two species proved to be superior when compared to the B. decumbens, which did not adapt well to the floods.
growth; forage species; water-lodging; flooding
