Consórcio de palma forrageira cv. orelha de elefante mexicana com Leucena no semiárido piauiense

Abstract

In semiarid regions, low rainfall and high temperatures affect the availability of food for animal production. In this scenario, forage palm emerges as a strategy for coexistence between regional livestock and drought, and its evaluation in new production modalities, such as in consortia with legumes, is important. Thus, it was intended to evaluate the productivity of forage cactus cv. Orelha de Elefante Mexicana intercropped with leucena in the semi-arid region of Piauí. The study was carried out at the Practical Lessons and Research Unit of the Agricultural Sector of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Piauí (IFPI), campus of Valença do Piauí. The treatments consisted of two production systems (forage cactus in monoculture and forage cactus intercropped with leucena). A completely randomized design with ten replications was adopted. It was observed that the main morphological aspects of forage cactus cv. Orelha de Elefante Mexicana did not differ (p> 0.05) between the production systems evaluated, except for the number of cladodes per plant and cladode area index, which were higher (p <0.05) in the cultivation system in monoculture. However, when considering the total production of the components of the intercropped system, the presence of the tree species in the system increased the efficiency of the use of resources for the production of biomass, reflecting a higher total production per area.