Características morfológicas e produtivas da palma forrageira cv. orelha de elefante mexicana submetida a diferentes densidades de plantio e intensidades de corte no semiárido pernambucano

Abstract

In Brazil, it is estimated that there are currently about 600.000 hectares planted with palm cultivars, but, despite recent government efforts to diversify the use of the plant culture, most of the planted areas are still dedicated to forage production. The goal was to evaluate the productive and morphological characteristics of the cactus Mexican Elephant Ear in different planting densities and levels of cutting. The experiment was conducted at Experimental Station Arcoverde, belonging to the Agronomic Institute of Pernambuco (IPA), located in Arcoverde city-PE, where the mexican palm Elephant Ear was grown under different planting densities and levels of cutting. The organized structure of the experiment was randomized blocks in a split plot arrangement replicated four times, with the main portion represented by different planting densities (6.944, 13.888, 27.777, 55.555 plants hectares-1) and the subplots formed by levels of cutting (preservation of cladode mother or primary during harvest). The variables studied were height and width of the plants, length, width and girth of cladodes per plant and per order, number of cladodes, production of dry matter (PMS) and value of the cladode area (IAC). There was no significant effect for PMS and IAC variables. There was negative linear effect for the variables height and width of the plant, length and width of tertiary cladode and girth of tertiary cladodes. There was quadratic effect with point of maximum reduction for the variables number of cladodes per plant, length and girth of cladodes per plant, length, width and girth of secondary cladodes. The planting density and level of cutting influenced the morphological behavior of the cactus pear Mexican Elephant Ear / IPA - 200016 in variable height and width of the plant, number of cladodes per plant, length and width of the secondary and tertiary cladodes.