Damages caused by cattle in eucalyptus clones in silvipastoril system in the amazon region

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the damage caused by cattle to eucalyptus clones in silvopastoral system, after nine months after planting. The experiment was conducted in a spatial arrangement of tracks considering the design was completely randomized with six replications and four treatments: a) Clone VM01 with access to cattle at nine months (TR1); b) Clone I144 with access to cattle at nine months (TR2); c) VM01 clone without cattle access (TR3); and d) Clone I144 without cattle access (TR4). Six annealated crossbred cattle were introduced in each treatment, weighing 300 kg in Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraés (MG-5) and maintained for three periods of approximately 14 days. Tree damage was assessed at 300, 332 and 360 days after planting according to the damaged parts (incidence) and a scale of classes and grades was established. The entry of cattle in the silvopastoral system nine months after planting, negatively affected (P≤0.05) the initial growth of the forest stand. Low-intensity damage was identified as branch breaking, high intensity as trunk breaking and extreme intensity as tipping, varying according to the clone. Animal access is not recommended at nine months after forest planting and should be carried out at older ages of the clones, with larger dimensions in total height and diameter at breast height.

Keywords:
Agroforestry systems; VM01 clone; Clone I144; Eucalyptus spp.