Water catchment with native species in the Brazilian Semiarid

Abstract

Xerophyticplants are well adapted to the semiarid conditions because they have a high potential for the use of rainwater. They can store it in their roots (xylopodiums). The Amburanacearensis, commonly called Cumaru, native of the Brazilian semiarid, is very important because of its multiple-use: good quality wood, active food ingredient, perfume and medicine production. However, its management is practically unknown. Aiming to know more about this culture, an experiment was conducted to quantify the Cumaruwater needs, evaluate its water-use efficiency and the capacity of roots to store water. Five levels of water (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of evapotranspiration) and five-plant spacing (0.20 × 0.20 m, 0.20 × 0.10 m, 0.20 × 0.05 m, 0.10 × 0.10 m and 0.05 × 0.05 m) were tested, and the results obtained analyzed statistically throughout F test. No influence of soil water level and plant spacing in the moisture content of the whole plant, in the aerial part or in the xylopodiums was observed. However, there was an effect of the treatments on the water stored in the whole plant in the aerial part or in the roots, per unit area. More than 80% of the water was stored in the roots. The crop growing with the smaller spacing without irrigation was shown to be quite efficient in using the rainwater, compared with traditional cultures irrigated.