Resumen

GONZALEZ, I et al. Effect of irrigation and cutting frequencies on dry matter production in Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) De Wit. Rev. Fac. Agron. [online]. 2003, vol.20, n.3, pp.364-375. ISSN 0378-7818.

In a very dry tropical forest rangeland in western of Venezuela, Zulia State, situated at 10° 32' LN and 71° 42' LW, an experiment was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effect of different irrigation frequencies (0, 7, 14 and 28 days) and cutting periods (21, 35 and 49 days) on the total dry matter production (RMS) in Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) De Wit. The experimental design used was a randon block desing with three replications, in a factorial 4 x 3 arrangement for a total of 12 treatments. The results showed significatives differences (P<0.01), for the irrigation frequencies of 7 and 14 days in RMS, with mean values of 1073,6 and 1015,3 kg/DM/ha/cutting. This represents a porcentage increase in forage production of 51,8% and 43.6% respectively. Cuttings made each 49 days affected RMS (P<0.01) with an average yielding of 1795.8 kg DM/ha/cutting. When the number of cuttings increased within each cutting frequency, RMS tended to decrease. In conclution the additional irrigation and cutting in leucaena represents an excellent strategy to increase forage quality and production.

Palabras clave : Leucaena leucocephala; irrigation; cutting; yield.