USE OF GREEN MANURES IN DWARF COCONUT PLANTATIONS (COCOS NUCIFERA L.) IN QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO

The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic behavior of species for green manures in coconut areas. The experiment was carried out in a Malay Dwarf Coconut tree plantation in INIFAP, Quintana Roo. Climate is subtropical wet Aw1 at 10 masl, the soil had low organic matter contain, nitrogen and phosphorus. The design was a completely randomized block experiment with 5 treatment (manure), T1: Tithonia diversifolia (Td), T2:Clitoria ternatea (Ct), T3:Leucaena leucocephala (Ll), T4:Canavalia ensiformis (Ce) and T5:Gliricidia sepium (Gs), each treatment had 4 replicates. Each species was sowed between coconut trees, using an arrangement of two rows per meter between them and one meter between plants. The measured variables were coverage percentage (CP), Weed Population (WP/m2), Plant Height (PH), Dry Biomass Production (DBP) and Nitrogen Percentage (NP). The analysis of variance was carried out using SAS system and Tuckey test with P≤ 0.05 of significance. Significative differences statistical were detected in CP. The highest heights were in T2 and T1 with 96 and 93 % respectively. Equally in PH were detected differences (P≤ 0.05) for T1 and T3 with 1.92 and 1.34 cm respectively. In WP, the highest values were detected in T4 and T3 with 33 and 40 weed/m2. The highest values obtained in DBP were in T1 and T4 with 5.2 and 2.3 ton/m/ha. The highest values in NP were observed in T3, T4 and T5 with 5.57,5.25 and 5.04 %. In respect with the agronomic behavior or evaluated species in this study, we can conclude that T1 and T4 represent an excellent option to be used as green manures.