Abstract
ABSTRACT Management practices can affect the phenology and, consequently, the harvest time and crop production level of forage cactus. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of irrigation depths and cropping systems on the phenophases and cutting time of the forage cactus Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw. The experimental design was a randomized block with split plots and four replications. Irrigation depths based on reference evapotranspiration (8.75 %, 17.5 %, 26.25 % and 35 % ETo) and a control (0 % ETo) made up the plots, while cropping systems (exclusive cropping, exclusive cropping on mulch and forage cactus-sorghum intercropping) were distributed in the subplots. Cladode emission morphogenesis was used to define the phenological phases, while the extrapolation of the monthly dry matter accumulation rate was applied to obtain the cutting time. The use of irrigation depths significantly increased the phenophase II (higher emission of second-order daughter cladodes), decreasing the phenophase III, associated with third-order daughter cladodes. The phenophase III was lower in the exclusive cropping on mulch and forage cactus-sorghum intercropping systems, when compared to the exclusive cropping system. The ideal cutting time for irrigated forage cactus is 19 months, regardless of the cropping system. The exclusive cropping on mulch and forage cactus-sorghum intercropping systems significantly increased the monthly forage dry matter accumulation rate, with an earlier cutting time for the forage cactus-sorghum intercropping system (17 months).
Highlights
The forage cactus is an important foraging resource for herds in the semiarid region, since it offers food stability to the production system (Silva et al 2015a)
This study aimed at assessing the effect of irrigation depths and cropping systems on the phenological phases and ideal cutting time of the forage cactus O. stricta
Phenophase I was found in all the treatments (Figure 3), with average duration of seven months, and its length was not affected by the different irrigation depths and cropping systems
Summary
The forage cactus is an important foraging resource for herds in the semiarid region, since it offers food stability to the production system (Silva et al 2015a). Areas cultivated with this species are expanding, thereby guaranteeing a food source for animals during periods of drought, when the supply of dry matter from native vegetation or other forage species is lower (Queiroz et al 2015) Given this expansion, there is a need to understand the morphological attributes that contribute to the forage cactus yield. The cladode production rate per order of emergence (i.e., number of cladodes produced for a specific order over time, in units month-1) can be used as an indicator of change in the phenological phase In this respect, understanding each of the different plant stages, i.e., the number and duration of phenophases, contributes to crop management (Pezzopane et al 2007 and 2009)
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