Palma forrageira adubada e irrigada no Sertão Paraibano.

Abstract

The forage cactus (Opuntia ficus indica Mill) popularly known as Giant Palm, Orelha de Elefante Mexicana has been cultivated in northeastern Brazil for being the cacti that best suit the climatic conditions of the region, it has ease of water absorption, very slow evaporation, which increases resistance to drought stress, and distinct morphological and physiological characteristics as photosynthetic metabolism CAM, distributed stomata evenly. Therefore, being widely used as animal feed supply during drought periods. It was aimed to evaluate the morphological characteristics, production and quality of forage cactus Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (Opuntia ficus indica) fertilized and irrigated in the Sertão of Paraiba.The experiment was conducted in the region of São Gonçalo, municipality of Santa Terezinha-Paraíba, throughout the period from May 2013 to August 2014 in a randomized block design, in a factorial 4 x 2, being four irrigation levels (0; 5; 10 and 15 mm) and two sources of organic fertilizer, ovine manure (OM) and chicken manure (CM) with four repetitions. The characteristics evaluated were: number, length, width, thickness, area of cladodes and area index of primary, secondary and tertiary cladodes, total photosynthetic area and plant height. The productivity was determined to the 480 days after planting (DAPs) as being cut in the three plants from the central line, leaving a primary cladode per plant. From the sampled material was taken samples for determination of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), NDF corrected to protein (FDNP), acidic detergent fiber (ADF), mineral matter (MM), hemicellulose (HEM), cellulose (CEL), lignin, digestibility "in vitro" of the dry matter (DM), total carbohydrates (TC) and non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC). The fertilization of the cactus pear with CM and OM did not influence the variables number, length, width and thickness of the cladodes of first and third order. There was significant effect (p <0.05) in the secondary cladodes for the variable lengths, width and thickness and for the cladode area index, photosynthetic area and height of the forage cactus when fertilized with OM. The total photosynthetic area of primary, secondary and tertiary cladode did not differ statistically between the CM and OM treatments. There was a significant effect for the variables plant height, number and thickness of the primary cladode, thickness of the secondary cladode and width of the tertiary when irrigated. For the cladode areas, total photosynthetic area and area index of primary, secondary and tertiary cladode there was no significant effect (p> 0.05) of the irrigation. There was no difference (p> 0.05) for the interaction irrigation versus fertilization. The irrigation influenced the DM and lignin contents. The fertilization with chicken manure influenced the CP and HEM. There was no effect (p> 0.05) of fertilization and irrigation on the contents of MM, EE, NDF, FDNp, ADF, CEL, TC and NFC of the orelha Mexicana de elefante forage cactus. There was a significant (p <0.05) for DIVDM when fertilized with ovine manure and without irrigation. The weight of the primary, secondary and tertiary cladodes was not affected by sources of fertilizers (OM and CM). The fertilization with chicken manure and ovine manure improves the chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of dry matter of the orelha Mexicana de elefante forage cactus. The Irrigation cactus with 15 mm every two weeks reduces the percentage of dry matter and does not affect the production of dry mass. The fertilization with chicken manure and ovine manure improves the chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of dry matter orelha Mexicana de elefante forage cactus.