Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics
Introduction: Tithonia diversifolia, also known as Mexican sunflower, is a tropical shrub with high forage potential, but limited information exists on the optimal harvest stage to balance yield and nutritional value. Methods: A 3 × 3 factorial design was implemented under tropical dry forest condit...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Frontiers Media SA
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12955/2863 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1644949 |
| _version_ | 1855028391984496640 |
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| author | Temoche Socola, Victor Alexander Sessarego Davila, Emmanuel Alexander Rodríguez Vargas, Aníbal Raúl Vásquez García, Cesar Alejandro Riojas, Joel Ruiz Chamorro, José Antonio Cruz Luis, Juancarlos Alejandro |
| author_browse | Cruz Luis, Juancarlos Alejandro Riojas, Joel Rodríguez Vargas, Aníbal Raúl Ruiz Chamorro, José Antonio Sessarego Davila, Emmanuel Alexander Temoche Socola, Victor Alexander Vásquez García, Cesar Alejandro |
| author_facet | Temoche Socola, Victor Alexander Sessarego Davila, Emmanuel Alexander Rodríguez Vargas, Aníbal Raúl Vásquez García, Cesar Alejandro Riojas, Joel Ruiz Chamorro, José Antonio Cruz Luis, Juancarlos Alejandro |
| author_sort | Temoche Socola, Victor Alexander |
| collection | Repositorio INIA |
| description | Introduction: Tithonia diversifolia, also known as Mexican sunflower, is a tropical shrub with high forage potential, but limited information exists on the optimal harvest stage to balance yield and nutritional value.
Methods: A 3 × 3 factorial design was implemented under tropical dry forest conditions in northern Peru, combining three regrowth stages (30, 45, and 60 days) with three plant fractions (leaf, stem, and leaf–stem mixture), with four replicates per treatment. Agronomic traits, dry matter yield, proximate composition, and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) were evaluated.
Results: Biomass yield increased significantly with harvest age, reaching 11.93 kg fresh weight and 3.45 kg dry matter per plant at 60 days, although with reduced nutritional quality due to a higher stem proportion. Leaves harvested at 30 days had the highest crude protein (16.5%) and soluble carbohydrates (48.2%) with the lowest crude fiber (19.3%). In contrast, the 45-day leaf samples achieved the highest IVDMD (62.34 ± 1.42%). A strong positive correlation was observed between leaf area and biomass yield (r = 0.93), and a moderate negative correlation with digestibility (r = –0.42).
Discussion: Harvesting at 45 days provided the best compromise between biomass production and nutritional value. These findings highlight the potential of T. diversifolia as a strategic forage alternative for sustainable feeding systems in tropical dry environments. |
| format | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| id | INIA2863 |
| institution | Institucional Nacional de Innovación Agraria |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media SA |
| publisherStr | Frontiers Media SA |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INIA28632025-09-29T20:39:09Z Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics Temoche Socola, Victor Alexander Sessarego Davila, Emmanuel Alexander Rodríguez Vargas, Aníbal Raúl Vásquez García, Cesar Alejandro Riojas, Joel Ruiz Chamorro, José Antonio Cruz Luis, Juancarlos Alejandro Nutritive value digestibility Forage potential Phenological stage Leaf-to stem ratio Valor nutritivo Digestibilidad Potencial forrajero Estado fenológico Relación hoja-tallo https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#4.02.01 Tithonia diversifolia; Silvopastoral systems; Sistema silvopascícola; Animal feeding; Alimentación de los animales; Dry matter; Materia seca Introduction: Tithonia diversifolia, also known as Mexican sunflower, is a tropical shrub with high forage potential, but limited information exists on the optimal harvest stage to balance yield and nutritional value. Methods: A 3 × 3 factorial design was implemented under tropical dry forest conditions in northern Peru, combining three regrowth stages (30, 45, and 60 days) with three plant fractions (leaf, stem, and leaf–stem mixture), with four replicates per treatment. Agronomic traits, dry matter yield, proximate composition, and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) were evaluated. Results: Biomass yield increased significantly with harvest age, reaching 11.93 kg fresh weight and 3.45 kg dry matter per plant at 60 days, although with reduced nutritional quality due to a higher stem proportion. Leaves harvested at 30 days had the highest crude protein (16.5%) and soluble carbohydrates (48.2%) with the lowest crude fiber (19.3%). In contrast, the 45-day leaf samples achieved the highest IVDMD (62.34 ± 1.42%). A strong positive correlation was observed between leaf area and biomass yield (r = 0.93), and a moderate negative correlation with digestibility (r = –0.42). Discussion: Harvesting at 45 days provided the best compromise between biomass production and nutritional value. These findings highlight the potential of T. diversifolia as a strategic forage alternative for sustainable feeding systems in tropical dry environments. The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This study was financially supported by the Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria (INIA), through the research goat project (CUI N° 2506684). 2025-09-29T20:39:09Z 2025-09-29T20:39:09Z 2025-09-19 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Temoche-Socola, V., Sessarego, E., Rodríguez, A., Vásquez, C., Riojas, J., Ruiz, J., & Cruz, J. (2025). Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics. Frontiers in Plant Science, 16, 1644949. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1644949 1664-462X http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12955/2863 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1644949 eng urn:issn:1664-462X Frontiers in Plant Science info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf application/pdf Frontiers Media SA CH Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria Repositorio Institucional - INIA |
| spellingShingle | Nutritive value digestibility Forage potential Phenological stage Leaf-to stem ratio Valor nutritivo Digestibilidad Potencial forrajero Estado fenológico Relación hoja-tallo https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#4.02.01 Tithonia diversifolia; Silvopastoral systems; Sistema silvopascícola; Animal feeding; Alimentación de los animales; Dry matter; Materia seca Temoche Socola, Victor Alexander Sessarego Davila, Emmanuel Alexander Rodríguez Vargas, Aníbal Raúl Vásquez García, Cesar Alejandro Riojas, Joel Ruiz Chamorro, José Antonio Cruz Luis, Juancarlos Alejandro Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics |
| title | Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics |
| title_full | Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics |
| title_fullStr | Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics |
| title_short | Optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole-plant Tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics |
| title_sort | optimizing harvest stage and drying time to enhance yield and nutritive quality of whole plant tithonia diversifolia forage meal in arid tropics |
| topic | Nutritive value digestibility Forage potential Phenological stage Leaf-to stem ratio Valor nutritivo Digestibilidad Potencial forrajero Estado fenológico Relación hoja-tallo https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#4.02.01 Tithonia diversifolia; Silvopastoral systems; Sistema silvopascícola; Animal feeding; Alimentación de los animales; Dry matter; Materia seca |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12955/2863 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1644949 |
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