NASCIMENTO, Z. D. S.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/1556762244741002; NASCIMENTO, Zulmira Dayana Santos.
Abstract:
The forage palm is one of the most cultivated plants in the Brazilian semiarid since its
implantation in the 20th century. In addition to its high capacity for adaptation in areas with
scarce rainfall, the carmine cochineal plague significantly destroyed palm trees in the
northeastern semiarid, becoming the main stalemate in palm cultivation since then. Because
of this, the present work aimed to evaluate the performance of the species of forage palm
Opuntia spp., Opuntia stricta, Nopoloea cochinillifera, considered highly resistant to the
referred pest, implanted in a conventional manner comparing them to the new cultivation
system on the soil in rainfed season. The field experiment was conducted at Jaçanã´s county,
RN. A randomized block design was used, distributed in four blocks and six treatments,
lasting 12 months. The collected data were submitted to analysis of variance, and the means
of the characteristics compared by the Tukey test, at 5% probability, through the
computational application Sisvar. The analysis of the results showed that the performance of
the species in the dry season was similar in both cultivation systems, pointing out that the
development of the plants is more related to their morphology than to the cultivation system.
Thus, the system of cultivation on the ground is recommended and innovative due to the
economy of labor and the ease of implanting the crop.
