Produtividade e composição bromatológica da forragem de moringa

Abstract

Moringa oleifera is a three of the Moringacea family, native of India, drought tolerant, introduced to Brazil in the 1950s aiming to treat water by its purifying power. It is also widely used as an herbal medicine in human heath in the treatment and prevention of diseases. It has a high amount of protein in the leaves and is well accepted by animals as a forage. The objective of this work was to evaluate the productivity and the quality of the Moringa accumulated forage mass, cultivated in different crop densities in the coastal tableland region of Sergipe State. A trial was carried out in the Jorge do Prado Sobral Experimental Station of Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros located in the county of Nossa Senhora das Dores - Sergipe. A randomized block design with eight replicates was used to test the effect of the densities 250,000 (0,20 m x 0,20 m), 500,000 (0,10 m x 0,20 m) and 1,000,000 (0,10 m x 0, 10 m) plants / ha in plots of 3,0 x 3,0 m. Six cuts were carried out from November 23, 2015 to November 23, 2016. The parameters of green biomass production, dry matter production (DM), survival rate (TS), stems and leaves ratio in green and dry matter were evaluated. No significant differences (p <0.05) were observed among means for all the parameters, except for the survival rate that was higher in the treatment of the lower density (81.64%) in relation to the other two (61.31%) and (45.54%). It was concluded that there is no benefit in increasing crop density above 250,000 plants / ha.