EVALUATION OF PRODUCTION OF CACTUS PERA (Opuntia Ficus - Indica Mill) IN THE DENSITY PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Resumo

Worldwide, the cactus pear is used in human food, animal feeding, as a source of energy, in medicine, in the cosmetics industry, in the protection and soil conservation, among other noble uses, such as the manufacture of adhesives, glues, and fibers for handicrafts, paper, dyes, mucilage, antiperspirant and ornamentation. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the production of cactus pear culture Opuntia ficus - indica Mill, the type of crop used was the density. The research was conducted under field conditions in the Agrotechnical School Cajueiro in Catole Rocha-PB, was deployed in an area of 0.5 ha, from September 2006 until August 2007. The production of forage palm in half a hectare in dense system reached 192.5 tons in rainfed system; this result comes from the first cut, and may be influenced by external factors such as cultural adaptation of the region.