Phenology and aerial biomass production of the Pithecellobium dulce in a tropical thorny mount area

• German T Virgüez ^[2] ; E. C. Gonzalez ^[2] ; Eduardo Chacon ^[1] ; J. Rodriguez ^[2]
  1. [1] Universidad Central de Venezuela

     Universidad Central de Venezuela

     Venezuela

     
  2. [2] Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado

     Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado

     Venezuela

     
• Localización: Archivos Latinoamericanos de Producción Animal, ISSN 1022-1301, ISSN-e 1022-1301, Vol. 12, Nº. 4, 2004 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Supl. 1. II Simposio Iberoamericano sobre Recursos Genéticos)
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • The cover, morphology and aerial production of dry matter (DM) of the specie Pithececellebium dulce (Roxb.) Benth. was evaluated in a xerophyte area. The population density per hectare of trees higher and smaller than 1.5 m was 264 and 1935, equivalent to 22.6 and 2.1% of total botanical community, respectively. Ten adult trees higher than 1.5 m with similar dimension, morphology, vigor and representative of the studied area were selected by systematic sampling and evaluated by destructive and non destructive methods. The averaged architecture for the specie was 4.8, 10.1 cm, 7.3 m’s, 6, and 1463 for number of tree trunks, diameters of tree trunks and crown, branch order, and number of productive branches respectively. The destructive sampling was done monthly during a year. The regression of DM on the number of leaves on productive branches was explained by a cubic function, and that of DM on stem length for a logarithmic one. The estimate of DM by tree was 32.7 ± 0.59 and 21.0 ± 0.59 for the dry and semi dry seasons, respectively, for a total of 14203 ± 312 kg of DM/ha per year. The average of fruits per trees was of 239 « 38. The results show the importance of this species as fodder resource for goat under range systems.