Perfilhamento, altura do dossel e cobertura do solo em pastagem de capim-elefante adubados com nitrogênio e irrigado

The research was conducted in field conditions, in order to evaluate the effects of four nitrogen doses (100; 300; 500 and 700kg ha-1 of N) and six water sheet (0; 20%; 40%; 80%; 100% and 120% of evapotranspiration) over the population density of basal tillers, sward height and percentage of soil covered by elephant grass plants. The nitrogen doses were the plots and the water sheet constituted the subplots, according to the complete randomized blocks experiment with four replicates. The results indicated nitrogen fertilization has effect on density of basal tillers and sward height in all evaluated periods, except for the density of basal tillers during rainy period. Nitrogen fertilization did not influence the soil covered by elephant grass in none of the evaluated periods. The water sheet applied had effect on density of basal tillers, sward height and soil covered by elephant grass in all evaluated periods, except for soil covered during the rainy period. Dose of 700kg ha-1 of N and the water sheet applied of 120% of evapotranspiration were the ones that provided larger density of basal tillers and larger sward height in all the evaluated periods.