Germination of herbaceous legumes useful for productive restoration of grasslands and native to central Argentina

Abstract

Productive restoration of degraded grasslands of central Argentina promotes biodiversity conservation
and cattle raising at the same time. Native legumes are a key group because they
improve forage supply and fixes N2. The objective was to evaluate pregerminative treatments
on Adesmia filipes (Af), A. incana (Ai), A. muricata, Lathyrus nervosus (Ln), L. pubescens (Lp),
Rhynchosia diversifolia (Rd) and R. senna (Rs), for their use in restoration. Four germination
tests were carried out, applying physic (PS), chemical and thermal scarification treatments,
with water (INM) and air (AS). PS broke dormancy for all species except Af, but it is not applicable
uniformly at large scales. Alternative treatments that were effective are INM with initial
temperature (T) 50 or 60°C for Lp (PG> 70%), INM and AS at sustained T (sT) 60 or 70°C for
Rd (PG> 40%), and INM at sT 60 or 70°C for Rs (PG> 60%). In subsequent trials the INM treatments
for Ai, Ln, Rs and Rd could be optimized.