| Cnidoscolus phyllacanthus (faveleira), a caatinga xerophyte Euphorbiaceae tree, produces proteinrichforage consumed by ruminants. It should be used carefully due to urticaceous thorns in leaves, fine branches and fruits, and antinutritional substances present in fresh material. The narrow gene pool of the few thornless mutants should be widened by additional thornless individuals grown from open-pollinated seeds. This study checked the potential of six thorny and three thornless open-pollinated native trees in a caatinga site to produce thornless progenies, and estimated the proportion of their thornless progenies. The trial took place at the seed laboratory and seedling nursery facilities of UFCG/UAEF, Patos-PB, Brazil, from March 2002 to November 2003,... |
