<b><i>Nopalea</i> cactus pear fertilized with nitrogen: morphometric, productive and nutritional characteristics

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the structural, productive and nutritional characteristics of cactus pear (Nopalea cochenillifera Salm Dyck. cv. Miúda/Doce) under five nitrogen doses and two planting orientations. A randomized block design in a 5 x 2 factorial scheme was used in the scheme: five nitrogen doses (0, 150, 300, 450 and 600 kg of N ha-1), and two planting orientations (North/South and East/West), with three replicates. Except for the thickness of the secondary (p = 0.04) and tertiary cladodes (p = 0.02), the morphometric characteristics of the cactus pear were not influenced by the nitrogen doses (p &gt; 0.05). The mean height was 120 cm, the areas of the primary, secondary and tertiary cladodium were 160.9; 208 and 158.4 cm², respectively. The application of nitrogen fertilizer, in the dry conditions and doses evaluated, did not affect the production of green matter (PGM, p = 0.56), dry matter (PDM, p = 0.74) and dry matter content (DM, p = 0.72), with averages of 276 t ha-1, 43.2 t ha-1 and 15.7%, respectively. The increase of the nitrogen doses does not improve the majority of the morphometric characteristics or the dry matter yield of the cactus pear cv. Miúda at 730 days after planting.

Evaluation of Application Frequency and Levels of Nitrogen on Cactus Pear

“…For the level 400 kg ha -1 of N, it was observed a decrease to 13.7 cladodes. Leite et al (2018) reported that with increase in nitrogen availability, an increase in the cladodes thickness is observed up to 450 kg ha -1 of N, and than a subsequent decreased.…”

Influence of cladode orientation and planting season on development and chemical composition of forage cactus

“…Thus, the forage cactus in the diet of animals has importance both as water and nutrients supplier. The absence of a significant response to dry matter productivity may be related to the dynamics of the development of the forage cactus root system, in order to capture water and nutrients from the soil (LEITE et al, 2018). Furthermore, the rainy season can generate short periods of complete growth of the root system.…”

“…Furthermore, the rainy season can generate short periods of complete growth of the root system. Which disappears during the dry season, as a strategy for saving energy and humidity (LEITE et al, 2018;ZÚÑIGA-TARANGO et al, 2009). Cladode orientation effect on fresh matter productivity in the first harvest likely occurred because of different cladode water content during harvest (92% in 2010 and 89% in 2012) (Table 9).…”

“…Cladode orientation did not affect fresh and dry matter productivity nor chemical composition of cactus varieties grown in the semiarid region of Morocco and Brazil (BAKALI et al, 2016;LEITE et al, 2018). This region is located near the equator with minimal variation for daylength; therefore, variability of total amount of solar radiation is low.…”

Silagem de palma forrageira com Gliricidia Sepium: alternativa alimentar para o Semiárido

“…Em função da adaptação da palma forrageira às condições edafoclimáticas do Semiárido, esta vem sendo utilizada em sistemas de produção, principalmente nos períodos secos do ano, como um dos principais alimentos volumosos por apresentar alto rendimento de biomassa com produtividades médias de 379,83, 392,83 e 480,17 t matéria verde/ha a cada 02 anos para as cultivares Gigante, Redonda e Miúda respectivamente (Cavalcante et al, 2014), baixo custo, alta aceitabilidade e eficiência no uso da água (Santos et al, 2011;Macedo, Santos, Oliveira & Perazzo, 2017), além de ser um alimento que supre grande parte das necessidades de água dos animais na época de escassez. Em relação a digestibilidade da matéria seca (MS), a palma apresenta valor superior às silagens de sorgo e de milho (Lopes et al, 2012), todavia, de acordo com Brito et al (2020), a silagem da palma forrageira possui baixos teores de matéria seca (10 a 13%) e de proteína bruta (4,2 a 6,2%), o que impede que seja recomendado como alimento exclusivo para ruminantes (Leite et al 2018), devendo ser associada a uma fonte de fibra e proteína.…”