Abstract

LEDEA-RODRIGUEZ, José Leonardo et al. Forage yield and its components according to the cutting frequency of Moringa oleifera, cultivar Criolla. Agron. Mesoam [online]. 2018, vol.29, n.2, pp.425-431. ISSN 2215-3608.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/ma.v29i2.30436.

In some countries of Central America, Moringa spp is considered as the tree of life because of its nutritional properties and its plasticity. In some of them, research is held to take advantage of Moringa spp foraging and nutritional properties regarding plant age, to be used for animal feed. This study aims to evaluate the effect of cutoff frequency on forage yield of Moringa oleifera, cultivar Criolla. The study was carried out in January and December 2012, in a Fluvisol soil of Cauto Valley under irrigation conditions and organic fertilization. A randomized block design with four replications was used and the variables considered were, plant height, number and thickness of shoots, number of leaves, leaf/stem ratio, total dry matter yield (DM), and leaf dry matter to explain the response of cutting at 45 and 60 days. All the analyzed variables were significantly affected (p≤0.05) by cutoff frequency. The highest (p≤0,05) yield of leaf dry matter, stems, and total were obtained when cutting at 60 days with 7.3, 11.8, and 18.4 t MS/ha respectively. It is concluded that cutting frequency modified the productive behavior of cultivars under study.

Keywords : browse plants; biomass; animal nutrition; multipurpose trees; harvesting frequency.

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