DISPONIBILIDADE DA FITOMASSA DE ESPÉCIES FORRAGEIRAS DE UMA CAATINGA SUBMETIDA À PASTEJO POR CAPRINOS

Abstract

The Caatinga is rich in forage species in its three stratum: herbaceous, the shrubby and arboreous, and has a diversity of native species with forage potential that becomes necessary to determine the amount of available phytomass. The present study aimed to evaluate the frequency of species and the availability of phytomass of the herbaceous stratum, shrubby and arboreous of the Caatinga under grazing system continued in from cariri of Paraíba, Brazil. The study was conducted at the Experimental Station of Agricultural Sciences Center of the Federal University of Paraíba, in São João do Cariri, Paraiba, Brazil. To determine the availability of herbaceous, shrubby and arboreous stratum, and the presence or absence of the species were used three areas of 3.3 ha, being the area I grazed for ten goats, area II for five goats and area III without animals. In each area were drawn three transects 100 m, each transect composed of 10 points 10 m equidistant from each other and at every point were conducted evaluations using a square of 1 square meter. The evaluations were performed every two months from January to July 2015. The higher availability of phytomass occurred in the area II, 2059.67 kg/ha of green mass and the arboreal stratum in the area I is the main component responsible by availability of phytomass. The lower availability of phytomass was found for the herbaceous stratum in grazed areas. In the areas evaluated, the species most occurred were Arachis pintoi, Heliotropium sp., Diodia sp. e Sida sp. for dicotyledonous, Aristida adscensionis e Cyperus uncinulatus for monocotyledonous and the species Poincianella pyramidalis e Aspidosperma pyrifolium, compounding most of the extract of tree dicotyledonous. In the area I that showed lower species richness compared to the II and III. The arboreal stratum contributes to greater participation in the availability of phytomass vegetation Caatinga. The Caatinga has a diverse vegetation at different stratum, being represented by several families. The higher stocking rate reduces the availability of phytomass.