experiments were undertaken in the South region of Minas Gerais State, Brazil, to evaluate the yield potential of forage grasses. In experiment 1, the following species, considered as having low nutritional requirements, were evaluated: Andropogon gayanus, Kunt; Brachiaria brizantha, Stapf; Brachiaria decumbens, Stapf; Brachiaria ruziziensis, Germain Evrard; Brachiaria humidicola (Rendle) Schweickt and Melinis minutiflora, Beauv. In experiment 2, the species considered as having medium and high nutritional requirements, that is: Setaria sphacelata (Schum.); Hemarthria altissima, (Poir.) Stapf; Chloris gayana, Kunt; Cynodon nlemfuensis, Vanderyst var. nlemfuensis; Hyparrhenia rufa, (Ness) and the cultivars Panicum maximum, Jacq.: Tobiatã, Green Panic and Makueni were evaluated. The experimental design used was randomized blocks with three replications. Rates of lime and of fertilizers for both establishment and maintenance differed between experiments. Each grass was evaluated for the following atributes: forage yield and crude protein content in the dry and wet season and ground cover. In experiment 1, the grasses with outstanding performance were B. brizantha, B.decumbens and A. gayanus, while in experiment 2 the species having the highest forage yield potential were: S. sphacelata, P. maximum cv. Tobiatã.
forage yield; forage quality; ground cover
