T
he variety of seed and seed-
ling species in Brazil is mani-
fold, but some of them stand
out in area and production as
they are keeping pacewith the
growth of the agricultural sector. Biggest
seed growing areas and estimated pro-
duction amounts are soybean, corn, rice,
wheat, tropical and temperate climate
forage and beans, according to a selection
based on the total number of species mul-
tiplied by seeds registered in the Ministry
of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply
(Mapa). All categories are included, from
genetics to S2.
The most representative are soybean
seeds, with an estimated production of
1.829 million hectares and 5.631 million
tons for the 2016/17 growing season, ac-
cording to data released by Mapa’s Inspec-
tion Management System (Sigef). All the
registered species reach a total of 2.769
million hectares and an estimated produc-
tion of 10.251million tons, in the same sea-
son, which adds the area and volume es-
timated for the 2016/16 and 2016/17 crop
year. After the oilseed, the second biggest
production, upwards of one million tons,
comes from corn. All other species togeth-
er came to a total smaller than one million
tons, but not less important.
The list of the 20 selected crops, be-
sides tropical forages and wheat, includ-
ed the main winter or temperate climate
forage seeds. In the middle of them, white
and dark oat, with 57,046 thousand reg-
istered hectares and 11.644 thousand
hectares, respectively. Ryegrass fields
amounted to 19.312 thousand hectares.
These fields are located in the South. “The
most used in agricultural systems area
black oat and ryegrass, mainly as cov-
er crops, but also as grazing land for live-
stock”, explains Gustavo Martins da Silva,
researcher with Embrapa Cattle South, in
Bagé (RS). White oat ismostly grown for si-
lage, grains for feeding livestock and also
as grazing land for cattle.
According to the researcher, anoth-
er crop used frequently as soil cover in
winter, especially in soybean areas in the
Rio Grande do Sul plateau region, is for-
age turnip. Other cultivars are little by lit-
tle finding their way into the fields. Avena
brevis is a cultivar that reached the mar-
ket through Embrapa, and is now gain-
ing momentum as a cover crop and live-
stock forage. Regarding the cultivars, Silva
highlights tetraploid ryegrass and dual
purpose wheat or silage (without sharp
ends). On a smaller degree, other species
are now on their way, like Persian clover,
woolly grass and fetusca grass.
n
Fromside
to side
Bignationalcrops, likesoybeanandcorn,arealsobigseed
producers
,butseveralothersegmentsaregainingmomentum
Sílvio Ávila
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