ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL OPTIMIZATION OF FORAGE PRODUCTIONADAPTED TO THE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF MOCACHE.

Eco-physiological growth and forage quality are fundamental aspects for the sustainable development of livestock production, its deficit limits the potential of livestock farming and the competitiveness of producers,environmental conditions, the topography of the land, as well as the varieties adapted to the environment can be influential. The aim was to optimize eco-physiological growth and forage production adapted to the climatic conditions of the Mocache canton. The research was carried out at the EETP-INIAP, located at km 5 of the Quevedo–El Empalme road, at 75 meters above sea level, Relative Humidity 90.26 %; Heliophany 60.6 light hours; Temperature 26.3 °C; Precipitation 198 mm. Classification and Regression Trees was used to explore and model complex relationships between the predictor variables and the ecophysiological variables by applying the CHAID method, in the statistical software SPSS version 25. The predictor variables (plant age,variety, relative humidity and heliophany) were influentialon the eco-physiological variables (plant height;length, width and number of leaves; stem diameter and number of tillers). It is recommended to carry out studies both in time and space, to determine the varieties adapted to the environmental conditions of the Ecuadorian coast.