Influence of spacing and plant population for sweet sorghum in different seeding seasons

The research aimed to evaluate the effect of row spacing and plant population on the production of sweet sorghum in sowing season and off-season crop. The experiments were conducted at Embrapa Maize and Sorghum, Sete Lagoas (MG) in an Oxisol in the 2011/2012 season. For two seasons of sowing, the plots were composed of five row spacings (50; 60; 70 and 80cm and double line 100x50cm), and sub-plots for four plant populations of sweet sorghum (80.000, 100.000, 120.000 and 140.000 plants ha(-1)). The experimental design was randomized blocks with three replications. It was used the variety of sweet sorghum BRS506. The experiment in the sowing season was implemented in November/2011 and the off-season in March/2012. The sowing season period resulted in higher fresh weight of total biomass, juice mass and Brix of sweet sorghum, regardless of plant arrangement. The row spacing of 50cm resulted in higher total biomass and juice mass ha-1, regardless of the period sowing. The double spacing resulted in values similar to the row spacing of 80cm for the main production variables, regardless of the period sowing. The plant population did not influence the yield of fresh mass of stems and juice mass, regardless of the period sowing.