| The fruits of the palm Butia capitata are harvested from wild populations. A lack of knowledge of their ecology has hindered the establishment of sustainable management practices. We investigated fruit biometric parameters, yield and phenology in two populations of B. capitata in the cerrado (savanna) in the north of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, at two study sites: in the communities of Mirabela (Fazenda Baixa site, studied from December 2006 through December 2007) and Campos (studied throughout 2007). Overall, adult palms produced an annual average of 7.6 leaves. At the Fazenda Baixa site, the mean annual number of infructescences was 4.9, compared with only 1.6 at the Campos site, and the annual yield was 197-373 and 145-468 fruits per tree (in... |
