Productivity of forage nopal in alley cropping of gliricídia under organic fertilization and different spacings in semi-arid conditions

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Ailton Francisco dos
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Pérez-Marin, Aldrin Martin, Sarmento, Maria Iza de Arruda
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Verde de Agroecologia e Desenvolvimento Sustentavel
• Texto Completo: https://www.gvaa.com.br/revista/index.php/RVADS/article/view/5740
• topic: Sistema de cultivo agroflorestal; Terras secas; Sustentabilidade.; Agroforestry system; Dryalands systems; Sustainability.

In the Semi-Arid region of Brazil, livestock farming is one of the main economic activities. However, the production of biomass by fodder is unstable over time due to irregular rainfall, causing an imbalance between the supply and demand of fodder to feed the herds. One of the strategies to circumvent this problem concerns the cultivation of forage palm in a consortium with leguminous tree species. The present work was carried out at the Experimental Station of the National Semiarid Institute and had the objective of evaluating the effect of spacing and organic fertilization on the growth and productivity of the forage palm in a system of alleys cropping with Gliicidia sepium. The experimental design was a randomized block design in a 3 × 4 factorial arrangement, with four replications, three spacing (2 × 1m; 1 × 1m and 1 × 0.5m) and four fertilizations (humic substances, seaweed, bocashi and Control), for 48 experimental units. The highest yields, annual increment and average annual palm increment were obtained in the 1 × 0.5m spacing. Organic fertilization did not significantly influence palm productivity. In addition to the forage produced by the gliricidia to that of the palm, the system of cultivation in alleys produced an average of 7.3 t ha-1 biomass and 14.2 meters of wood, making this system an excellent bank of protein. As a strategy to promote greater stabilization in the production of biomass for animal feed.