Seedbed microenvironment modification

The present work has been carried out with the objective of characterising the different degree of response of native grasses under different treatments applied in order to revegetate degraded areas by addressing the hypothesis that the type of seedbed and disturbance can dramatically alter the revegetation of degraded grasslands by stimulating natural seed banks. Thus, the present research was conducted during 1999 and 2000 in an area of Rancho "El Halcón", Zacatecas. An overgrazed site showing bare soil was selected and assigned to the following treatments: exclusion (E), traditional reseeding (RT), mulching with branches (A), manual disturbance (DM), animal trampling (P) and animal trampling plus mulching (P + A). Observations were carried out at the end of the growing season for both periods. Despite the low rainfall conditions (76 and 134 mm) respectively, the results obtained show a consistent effect of animal trampling plus mulching (P + A) as the most efficient treatment in the monthly recovery of vegetation cover.