| Sumario: | In arid conditions, the low quality of the forage and water shortage could be attenuated
by the introduction of Opuntia species. Several plant species grows well under Prosopis
canopy, responding to a higher nutrient content in the soil, It was hypothesized that
productivity and nutrient content, mainly crude protein (CP), of Opuntia ellisiana planted
under Prosopis would be higher than of those planted outside the canopy, and that these
parameters would be influenced by the cactus position: north or south from the centre
of the tree. Sampling was done in 18 plants under the canopy of Prosopis and 23 outside
of it. After one year of the plantation, the totality of cladodes was harvested. The productivity
per plant was 3.1 and 5.7 cladodes and 34.9 and 48.1 g of dry matter (DM), outside
and under the canopy, respectively. The bromatological values (%) were moisture: 89.1
and 91.9, organic matter (OM): 76.7 and 79.8, CP: 4.4 and 8.1, acid detergent fiber (ADF):
13.7 and 18.2, neutral detergent fiber (NDF): 29.0 and 31.5, K: 3.1 and 3.6, P: 0.07 and
0.11, Ca: 5.5 and 4.4, Na: 0.04 and 0.02, outside and under the canopy, respectively. Crude
protein, moisture, OM, ADF, NDF, K, P and productivity per plant were higher under the
canopy, whereas Ca and Na values were higher outside the canopy (p<0.05). Magnesium
(1.9 and 1.9%) was not affected by the position outside or under the canopy. The north
or south orientation did not influence any of the analysed parameters.
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