Effect of Different Irrigation Programs on Structural Characteristics, Productivity and Water Use Efficiency of <i>Opuntia</i> and <i>Nopalea</i> Forage Cactus Clones
Jandis Ferreira Nunes de Araujo,
João Pedro Alves de Souza Santos,
Luciana Sandra Bastos de Souza,
Carlos André Alves de Souza,
Cléber Pereira Alves,
Alexandre Maniçoba da Rosa Ferraz Jardim,
Danielle da Silva Eugênio,
Leonardo Francelino de Souza,
José Edson Florentino de Morais,
Wilma Roberta dos Santos,
Glayciane Costa Gois,
Fleming Sena Campos,
Marcos Vinícius da Silva,
Abelardo Antônio de Assunção Montenegro,
Thieres George Freire da Silva
Affiliations
Jandis Ferreira Nunes de Araujo
Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada 56909-535, Pernambuco, Brazil
João Pedro Alves de Souza Santos
Center for Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, BR 104, SN, Rio Largo 57100-000, Alagoas, Brazil
Luciana Sandra Bastos de Souza
Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada 56909-535, Pernambuco, Brazil
Carlos André Alves de Souza
Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada 56909-535, Pernambuco, Brazil
Cléber Pereira Alves
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife 52171-900, Pernambuco, Brazil
Alexandre Maniçoba da Rosa Ferraz Jardim
Department of Biodiversity, Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University—UNESP, Rio Claro 13506-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Danielle da Silva Eugênio
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife 52171-900, Pernambuco, Brazil
Leonardo Francelino de Souza
Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada 56909-535, Pernambuco, Brazil
José Edson Florentino de Morais
Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada 56909-535, Pernambuco, Brazil
Wilma Roberta dos Santos
Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada 56909-535, Pernambuco, Brazil
Glayciane Costa Gois
Chapadinha Science Center, Federal University of Maranhão, Chapadinha 65500-000, Maranhão, Brazil
Fleming Sena Campos
Chapadinha Science Center, Federal University of Maranhão, Chapadinha 65500-000, Maranhão, Brazil
Marcos Vinícius da Silva
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife 52171-900, Pernambuco, Brazil
Abelardo Antônio de Assunção Montenegro
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife 52171-900, Pernambuco, Brazil
Thieres George Freire da Silva
Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada 56909-535, Pernambuco, Brazil
The objective of this study was to evaluate the structural characteristics, yield and water use efficiency of forage cactus under daytime and nighttime irrigation in a Brazilian semiarid region. The experiment followed a completely randomized design in a 3 × 2 factorial scheme, with ten replications: three clones of forage cactus (“IPA Sertânia”—IPA, “Miúda”—MIU, “Orelha de Elefante Mexicana”—OEM) and two irrigation schedules (daytime and nighttime). Irrigation was applied once a week using a graduated cylinder. The structural characteristics (i.e., plant height and width, total number of cladode—TNC; cladode number per emergence order—CN1, CN2 and CN3; cladode area—CA; cladode area index—CAI), productive characteristics (fresh mass production per plant—FM and dry mass—DM) and water use efficiency (WUEFM and WUEDM) were obtained from the plant harvests. Our results showed that the irrigation schedules did not lead to significant differences in most of the response variables (p > 0.05), except for the TNC (13.2 und), CN2 (7.4 und) and CAI (1.58 m2 m−2) of MIU. It was observed that OEM presented the highest yield, WUEFM and WUEDM (p < 0.05). Adopting the OEM clone, regardless of the irrigation schedule, is the strategy that achieves the best production.
