Edad del henequén en relación con las características de la fibra

Abstract

The "henequén" plant, Agave Letonae Trel, of El Salvador is an important fiber source. A study was made of the closeness of harvest with regard to the serious "Mancha Negra" (Blackspot) of leaves caused by the fungus Diplodia Theobromae (Pat.) Nowell. If fiber yield and strength were not too much affected by age, losses might be partly overcome by earlier harvest. Leaf samples were taken from 5, 12 and 20 year old groups of plants. Regardless of plant age, moisture content of leaves increased progressively from oldest to youngest leaves. Fiber content was about the same in all leaves from all parts of the plant, but tensile strength decreased as leaves became older. It was suggested it would be advantageous to the producer to either harvest leaves more frequently or remove more leaves per plant at usual semiannual harvests.