Rehabilitation of fique (Furcraea macrophylla) crop through pruning “descope” in Cauca, Colombia

Abstract

Currently, in Colombia there are old and poorly productive crops of fique (Furcraea macrophylla Baker) crops. The objective of the present investigation was to determine if the "canopy pruning" works as a rehabilitation practice. The evaluation was carried out on plants with different times after pruning, 0 (control without pruning), 12, 36 and 72 months. The statistical design used was a randomized complete block (RCBD) with four treatments and four blocks. It was determined that the rehabilitation time for a crop to produce fiber with an appropriate length for the market was 16 months, less time than that produced by a crop sown from seed. This practice improved vegetative growth and productive capacity in plants 36 and 72 months after pruning, exhibiting increases of 77 and 277 % in fiber yield respectively. With the results of this investigation, it is concluded that the implementation of this practice is an agronomically feasible strategy to rehabilitate fique crops because improve growth and production of plants.

Keywords

• agavaceae
• cabuya
• growth
• fiber
• sisal