Evaluation of the growth in height of <i>Leucaena leucocephala</i> (Lam.) de Wit., in ‘Agreste’ of Pernambuco

Abstract

The main goal of this work was to evaluate the growth in height of the leucena Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) of Wit. The seedlings’ plantation was at the Experimental Station of the Agricultural Research Institute of Pernambuco - IPA – located in Caruaru, semi-arid region of Pernambuco, using 576 seedling of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) of Wit (cv, Hawaii k8), divided in 24 treatments with 24 replications. The sources of variation studied were: phosphate fertilizer, organic matter from urban composto and rhizobial strains (NFB 466 and 473) applied as a mixed inoculant. In the experiment the analysis of Repeated Measures with nineteen measures was used along the time. The best results were obtained in the treatments with organic matter from urban composto however, starting from the fourteenth measurement (571 days after the beginning of the experiment), significant differences among the treatments were observed. Through the 8 years of evaluation, it may be concluded that in the first four years, the leucaena showed best growth results reaching 80% of the maximum size. In the last four years the same trees grew only 20%, to reach their maximum heights.