José Eduardo de Almeida
Estação Experimental de Zootecnia
Gália, São Paulo, Brasil
Tamara Canto Fonseca
Instituto de Zootecnia
Nova Odessa, São Paulo, Brasil
INTRODUCTION
Mulberry (Morus sp.) has made new advances worldwide as a forage plant because of its high protein content and high digestibility (Baffi, 1992; Basaglia, 1993; Hara, 1993; Sugohara et al., 1994a,b; Takahashi et al., 1994; FAO, 1999; Schmidek, 1999). However, its management is not yet defined, and there are various alternatives when is it destined to be used for domestic farm animals.
In Brazil, mulberry is known as feed for the silkworm (Bombyx mori) and it is cultivated at approximate spacing of 1 m2/plant, with cuts close to the ground at 91 days-intervals (13 weeks).
Management of mulberry as a shrub or tree has been encouraged by some experienced veterans, such as Giuseppe Briani, Marino Serpa and Mário Hashimoto, who are familiar with the practices utilized in Europe and Japan. These experts defend the advantages of the system: greater production and quality, better exploitation of soil, longevity and possibility of associated crops, in the limits of roads or property boundaries. Briani states that trees older than 200 years in Assisi (Italy) produce about 15 kg of leaves per tree/year.
This article is a contribution towards the knowledge of high-trunk mulberry.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
An experiment was carried out at the Livestock Experimental Station of the Instituto de Zootecnia (IZ) in Gália (western São Paulo state, latitude 22o17’S, longitude 49o33’W), in a sandy and acid low fertile soil. Stakes (length, 30 cm; diameter, 1.5 cm) were planted at 2 x 2 m in 1996. Each plot consisted of two lines (subplots) of five plants each. Production was measured in the 1997/98 and 1998/99 seasons.
TABLE 1
Characteristics and annual production of mulberry clones under the stump system
|
Clone |
Sex |
Origin |
Annual Production (tonnes/ha) |
|
IZ 1/16 |
Male |
Fernão Dias x Catânia Paulista |
- |
|
IZ 3/2 |
Female |
Contadini x Catânia Paulista |
- |
|
IZ 6/7 |
Female |
Lopes Lins x Catânia Paulista |
- |
|
IZ 10/1 |
Male |
Lopes Lins x Catânia Paulista |
- |
|
IZ 10/4 |
Male |
Lopes Lins x Catânia Paulista |
17.8 |
|
IZ 10/8 |
Male |
Lopes Lins x Catânia Paulista |
19.3 |
|
IZ 11/9 |
Female |
Formosa x Kokuso 27 |
10.1 |
|
IZ 13/6 |
Male |
Fernão Dias x Kokuso 27 |
26.2 |
|
IZ 56/4 |
Female |
Formosa x Catânia Paulista |
32.0 |
|
IZ 57/2 |
Female |
Formosa x Kokuso 27 |
24.5 |
|
IZ 40 |
Female |
Open pollination |
25.7 |
|
Korin |
Female |
Mutation of Miura variety |
- |
Source: Fonseca et al., 1987c.The experimental plot was a split-plot design, with 12 treatments, 11 IZ clones (Fonseca, Almeida and Okamoto, 1994) and a commercial clone as control (Table 1), two subplots (harvests at nine and 13 weeks) and four random blocks.
Annual production data were utilized for comparing management within harvest, among harvests, clone within management and within harvests and through non-parametric tests: sing test, Wilcoxon's sign-rank test and Friedman's cc2 test (Campos, 1983; Dagnelie, 1988; Hollander and Wolfe, 1973).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 2 presents annual production of clones harvested every nine weeks (four cuts per year) or 13 weeks (three cuts per year). Production data are similar to the stump system (Table 1). The yield of IZ 11/9, the lowest, was 10.1 tonnes/ha/year in the stump system and 9.8 at nine-week harvesting and 13.5 tonnes/ha/year at 13-week harvesting with high trunks (Table 2).
These results demonstrate the adaptation of clones to the new system, despite their young age (two years old) and the interaction with harvest frequency. This indicates an inadequate selection procedure based on only a few harvests (Fonseca et al., 1981). The year effect was highlighted by the sign Test. With the average results of the two managements a B = 3 was obtained, accepting H0, with a level of significance of aa = 0.0193. The year effect with management was also significant, with reduction in production for four cuts per year (B = 2) and increases for three cuts per year (B = 1).
TABLE 2
Annual production, per plant and per hectare, of 12 clones (2 500 plants/ha) subjected to cuts every nine or 13 weeks
|
Clones |
Cutting frequency |
|||||
|
9 weeks (4 cuts) |
13 weeks (3 cuts) |
|||||
|
1997/98 |
1998/99 |
Annual mean |
1997/98 |
1998/99 |
Annual mean |
|
|
(kg/plant) |
(kg/plant) |
(tonne/ha) |
(kg/plant) |
(kg/plant) |
(tonne/ha) |
|
|
IZ 1/16 |
7.19 |
6.67 |
17.3 |
6.44 |
9.06 |
19.4 |
|
IZ 3/2 |
5.58 |
3.91 |
11.9 |
5.33 |
7.45 |
16.0 |
|
IZ 6/7 |
5.15 |
5.55 |
13.4 |
4.32 |
6.05 |
13.0 |
|
IZ 10/1 |
5.49 |
4.73 |
12.8 |
5.98 |
9.20 |
19.0 |
|
IZ 10/4 |
5.97 |
5.03 |
13.8 |
7.01 |
8.61 |
19.5 |
|
IZ 10/8 |
6.46 |
5.72 |
15.2 |
5.55 |
9.32 |
18.6 |
|
IZ 11/9 |
4.59 |
3.26 |
9.8 |
5.90 |
4.92 |
13.5 |
|
IZ 13/6 |
6.48 |
6.42 |
16.1 |
6.59 |
9.03 |
19.5 |
|
IZ 56/4 |
7.01 |
4.73 |
14.7 |
4.72 |
8.00 |
15.9 |
|
IZ 57/2 |
5.54 |
3.57 |
11.4 |
6.03 |
6.67 |
15.9 |
|
IZ 40 |
6.62 |
7.26 |
17.4 |
6.80 |
9.33 |
20.2 |
|
Korin |
6.81 |
5.36 |
15.2 |
6.62 |
9.43 |
20.1 |
In order to confirm this assumption, the same test was applied for the two managements in the first year of production (1997/98) obtaining B = 6, therefore accepting H0. In the second year, B = 0 was obtained, rejecting H0. This indicates that during the first year, production per plant was the same for the two cutting frequencies. In the second year, the residual effect caused a reduction in yield in the nine-week frequency and an increase in the 13-week treatment (Table 2).
A similar result was obtained when Wilcoxon's sign-rank test was applied. For the first year W = 0.404 (accepting H0) and for the second year W = 3.002 (rejecting H0).
Since one of the objectives of this experiment was to indicate an appropriate clone for the proposed management system, the Kruskal-Wallis test [H = 12.7887 (ns) for nine weeks and H = 12.1449 (ns) for 13 weeks] and the Friedman's cc2 were applied to the performance data. It was shown that the clones performed similarly, without significant differences at aa=0.05 in both cutting frequencies.
CONCLUSION
The clones responded well to the high-trunk system with yields comparable to the stump method. It was not possible in two years to select a superior clone among the 12 clones studie, as had been the intention.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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