Teste de espécies arbóreas para cultivo em regiões semiáridas

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the adaptability, survival and initial development of forest species under edaphoclimatic conditions of the semi-arid region of the State of Rio Grande do Norte. The experiment was conducted at the Rafael Fernandes Experimental Farm, located in the rural area of Mossoró-RN, under a randomized complete block design, composed of 4 replicates, with 7 species per replicate and 16 plants per plot, spaced 3 m x 2 m, totaling 448 individuals of the species Acacia mangium (Acácia), Eucalyptus camaldulensis (Eucalipto), Libidibia ferrea (Pau-Ferro), Mimosa caesalpinaefolia (Sabiá), Moringa oleifera (Moringa), Poincianella pyramidalis (Catingueira) e Tectona grandis (Teca). Two evaluations were performed at 6 and 9 months after the implementation of the experiment, in which total height, lap diameter and survival data were collected and the processed and analyzed using SELEGEN and SISVAR software. Considering the results, estimates of individual heritability in the broad sense were high for total height (Ht) and lap diameter, ranging from 65.00% to 78.30% and 80.20% to 83.30%, from the first to the second evaluation, respectively, understanding that the genetic control of the characteristics evaluated is high and that the selection of these individuals is possible and would cause high genetic gain. In relation to Ht, the Moringa and Eucalipto species obtained better performance for the two evaluations, with a predicted genetic gain of 70.43% and 63.04%, respectively. The results showed that there was a statistical difference between the species and that Moringa obtained the best performance, standing out as higher, in which the predicted genetic gain reaches 103.88%. For this same variable, we highlight the species Teca, Eucalipto and Acácia, which had a genetic gain of 63.99%, 49.03% and 39.34%, respectively. In both characters, total height and lap diameter, the Catingueira and Pau-Ferro species presented bottom performance. Thus, it can be concluded that Moringa presented higher performance for all evaluated characteristics, demonstrating its positive adaptability and development in the evaluated conducts; and that Acácia, Eucalipto, Sabiá and Teca obtained a positive performance, suggesting the continuity of experimentation with the application of provenance tests and/or progeny tests, so that it is possible to validate their performance to ensure the investment of these forests in semi-arid regions.