Rehabilitación del bosque nativo mediante pastoreo con descansos y uso complementario de pastura exótica en el Chaco Árido: estudio de caso en San Luis (Argentina).

Leibovich, T.; Jacobo, E. J.; Vega, D.; Fernández, P. L.; Cotroneo, S. M.

The main activity of peasants in the Valle de Conlara is cattle grazing in degraded native forests. In similar regions, excluding cattle during rainy seasons allows for better conditions of the herbaceous layer and soil in forests. Complementary use of implanted pastures makes this possible. The objective was to evaluate the effects of seasonal exclosure (vs. continuous) and complementary use of an exotic pasture, on forage biomass and quality, and soils. For two years, wet (842 mm/year) and dry (521 mm/year), three plots with a different treatment were monitored: forest with six years of summer exclosure, forest without exclosure, and Panicum coloratum pasture on a cleared site. The plot with exclosures vs. without exclosures had 2.5 times more native grass cover, 1.9 to 3.4 times more Aboveground Net Primary Production (dry and wet years, respectively), and four times more seed bank density. The soil had greater litter cover and infiltration capacity, lesser bare soil area, and higher percentage of C, P and N. The productivity of P. coloratum doubled native grasses in the rested forest. Using it during summer, allows the herbaceaous layer of the forest to rest and defers it towards the winter, maintaning better quality than the pasture.

FOREST degradation; FOREST soils; FOREST monitoring; PASTURES; PANICUM

Agriscientia, 2024, Vol 41, Issue 2, p85

0327-6244

Academic Journal

10.31047/1668.298x.v41.n2.41718