Abstract
ABSTRACT This study aimed to understand the relationship of morphological characteristics and actual evapotranspiration of forage cactus clones with their productive capacity under different water regimes. The data used in this study were collected between the years 2012 and 2013, in Serra Talhada, State of Pernambuco. The clones Sertânia IPA - IPA, Miúda - MIU and Orelha de Elefante Mexicana - OEM were submitted to three irrigation depths (2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 mm) and three irrigation intervals (7, 14 and 28 days). Cladode and plant morphology, accumulated actual evapotranspiration and yield were obtained at the moment of harvest. Pearson’s correlation matrix was elaborated and, in the sequence, multicollinearity, canonical and path analysis were applied. There was no correlation of yield with the soil water supply and actual evapotranspiration of the clones (p > 0.05). Forage cactus yield was more associated with peculiarities of the morphological characteristics of the clones than with the different soil water supplies or the crop actual evapotranspiration. However, regardless of the water regime and clone, the vigor of the basal cladodes was highly decisive for the expression of the forage cactus productive capacity.
Highlights
Forage cactus has different varieties belonging to the genera Opuntia and Nopalea, and, despite having the same photosynthetic process, the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), has characteristics that differentiate them, such as morphology and, water use efficiency (Silva et al, 2014a, 2015)
This study aimed to understand the association of morphological and water factors of forage cactus clones with productive capacity under different water regimes
There was no correlation of water supply and actual evapotranspiration of forage cactus (ET and ET/ETo) with crop yield (p > 0.05)
Summary
Forage cactus has different varieties belonging to the genera Opuntia and Nopalea, and, despite having the same photosynthetic process, the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), has characteristics that differentiate them, such as morphology and, water use efficiency (Silva et al, 2014a, 2015).Different from C3 and C4 plants, CAM species open their stomata at night to capture the CO2 necessary for their metabolism, which reduces water transfer to the atmosphere, i.e., evapotranspiration (ET). The contribution of morphological and environmental characteristics to the yield of forage cactus clones has been cited in the literature (Silva et al, 2010, 2015; Pinheiro et al, 2014), but it does not contemplate irrigated cultivation and does not meet water parameters, such as actual crop evapotranspiration. The association of water-productive factors of the forage cactus planting system with morphological characteristics can establish new indicators of indirect selection of clones that are more productive and with higher water use efficiency for the different sites or that have wide interannual seasonality of rainfalls (Neder et al, 2013; Pinheiro et al, 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
