Morphological, yield, and nutritional characteristics of Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) and Plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) according to cutting interval in Peruvian Andes

In Peru, the high Andean regions made up of grasslands are important for the sustainability of local systems. Improving and promoting the sustainability of forage production and quality allows producers to be resilient in the face of constant environmental changes. In this study, the morphological characteristics (plant height, leaf length and width), yield (fresh and dry matter) and nutritional characteristics [ash, ether extract, crude protein (CP), crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), in vitro digestibility of dry matter (IVDMD), nitrogen-free extract (NFE) and gross energy] of Cichorium intybus L. and Plantago lanceolata L. were evaluated, according to the cutting interval. Six experimental plots were implemented, three per species in each of C. intybus and P. lanceolata . An analysis of variances under a linear mixed model was performed of morphological and yield characteristics, including the cutting interval (28, 35 and 42 days), and the harvest (1, 2, 3 and 4 harvests) as fixed effects, while the plants were considered as a random effect. Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (p < 0.05) was used to group the results by species using R software. The number of leaves in C. intybus and P. lanceolata were higher at a cutting interval of 42 days of age and in the third and fourth harvest (p