INITIAL DEVELOPMENT IN PLANTATIONS OF Ziziphus thyrsiflora Benth, Geoffroea spinosa Jacq and Handroanthus chrysanthus Jacq. IN JIPIJAPA, MANAB͍, ECUADOR

Abstract

The native species, in their majority, have low rates of growth, present heterogeneous development, are sensitive to conditions of stress in the establishment and are of late performance. The objective of this work was to evaluate the initial development in plantations of Ziziphus thyrsiflora Benth, Geoffroea spinosa Jacq and Handroanthus chrysanthus Jacq. in Jipijapa, Manabͭ, Ecuador. For the trial, a completely randomized experimental design with 3 x 2 factorial arrangement corresponding to species and to fertilization was used, with 6 treatments and 3 repetitions achieving a total of 18 experimental units. As a result, it was obtained that Ziziphus thyrsiflora showed the greatest monthly increase in height, diameter and number of branches, both with fertilizer and without fertilizer. The average values ​​obtained with the application of fertilizers were higher in all the indicators, which indicates the favorable response of the three species to the fertilizer used, independently of the fact that this difference was not always statistically significant.