Morphometry and yield of ‘Gigante’ forage cactus pear under irrigation and different planting densities

ABSTRACT Growing forage cactus pear in semi-arid regions is an alternative when facing current climate changes, and improving its cropping systems is critical to increasing its yields. The objective was to evaluate morphometric characteristics and yield of ‘Gigante’ cactus pear under complementary irrigation with saline water and different planting densities. The research was carried out in the semiarid region of Bahia during the period from September 2017 to October 2019. A randomized block design was used with treatments arranged in split-split plots. Two irrigation intervals (7 and 14 days) were assigned to plots, four planting densities (20,000; 40,000; 60,000 and 80,000 plants per hectare) to subplots, and four irrigation levels (0, 11, 22 and 33% of ETo) to sub-subplots. High-salinity water (2.91 dS m-1), classified as C4S1, did not limit the growth and yield of ‘Gigante’ forage cactus pear for two crop cycles. Fresh matter and dry matter yields, fresh matter-based water use efficiency and dry matter-based water use efficiency were highest at planting densities of 61,465 and 67,786 plants ha-1, and 61,848 and 69,707 plants ha-1, respectively. The use of 33% ETo irrigation level increased morphometric characteristics, fresh matter yield in the first and second cycles, and dry matter yield in the first cycle. Applying increasing irrigation levels promotes reductions in fresh matterand dry matter-based water use efficiency.