Qualitative Assessment of Early Palm Cladodes of Opuntia tuna L. (Mill) Grown with Organic Manures

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the physical and chemical quality of young palm cladodes produced with different sources and concentrations of organic fertilisation.

Experimental Design: The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design, corresponding to five doses and three sources of organic fertilisation.

Place and Duration of the Study: The experiment was conducted in the Experimental Area of the Center for Agro-Food Science and Technology of the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Pombal campus, Paraíba, Brazil, between November 2016 through January 2017.

Methodology: The experiment was conducted in a 3 x 5 factorial block design, using 3 fertilisation sources (avian, bovine and caprine manure) and 5 doses (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%). The seedlings were obtained from fully mature palm cladodes of the 'Elephant ear Prickly pear' (Opuntia tuna (L.) Mill.) cultivar.

Results: The fertilisation with bovine and caprine manure favoured the increase of fresh mass, thickness and transverse diameter characteristics of young palm cladodes. The application of avian manure promoted improvements in chemical attributes.

Conclusion: The fertilisation with organic sources promoted improvements in the physical-chemical attributes of the young palm cladodes. The 10% dose promoted improvements in the physical parameters of shoots and palm. While the chemical attributes showed better with the dose of 5%.