With the objective of determining whether in a silvopastoral system (formed by an association of improved
grasses and
L. leucocephala cv. Cunningham) the morphobotanical characteristics of the predominant species
were maintained, a characterization study was performed after 10 years of exploitation. Several quantitative
descriptors were used for the grasses as well as the legumes that were present in higher quantity in the system,
which were determined through the botanical composition of the pastureland. To process the results, a principal
component analysis was used. The botanical composition of the pasture allowed proving the existence of two
predominant species:
Panicum maximum
cv. Likoni and
Leucaena leucocephala
cv. Cunningham. Both species
showed high variability accumulated with regards to the indicators measured: 93.86 and 94.73% for the grass and
the legume, respectively. This result is considered to be an encouraging symptom, because in this system with
more than a decade of exploitation the morphological characteristics of the two most representatives species are
maintained. The characterization activity is important for determining the morphobotanical stability of plants. It
is recommended to use these measurements in similar studies.