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ALVARO GUSTAVO CAÑADAS LÓPEZ, ARCE CALVACHE LUIS ANTONIO, MOLINA HIDROVO CARLOS ALBERTO
Autonomous National Institute of Agricultural Researches (INIAP), Ecuador
Dual-purpose cattle production systems, comprising milk and meat production, are traditionally utilised by family farms on open pastures in the lowlands of the Western Region of Ecuador (lWRE). However, Zebu-European crossbred cattle suffer from heat stress and therefore would benefit from shading. A tree that provides shade and has adapted to management conditions of pastures with seasonal burning is Teak (Tectona grandis). It is planted as live fence, by this forming a silvopastoral system. The net incomes of silvopastoral farmers are higher than compared to the incomes of traditional farmers, taking into account the initial investments of planting trees. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal number of trees and time of harvesting, thus defining a yield model for Tectona grandis for silvopastoral systems in lWRE. The data base comprises 40 permanent sample plots and 479 interval plots on 600ha. The oldest stand is currently 50 year old. Height curves for three site indices (21, 19 and 17m with a reference age of 10 years) were constructed, yield tables for the three site indices were defined and mean annual volume increment (MAI) curves presented with range of site index values. The maximum MAI was 20 m3 ha-1 at the age of 13 for a site index of 21m and 133 trees ha-1. Future volume can be easily estimated through growth simulation models or yield tables, none of these tools have yet been developed in the lowlands of the western region of Ecuador for teak in silvopastoral management.
Keywords: Site index, teak annual increment, volume equation, yield tables
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