Recovery of degraded pasture in the Pantanal Wetlands: Integrated Management for Seed Bank Induction and / or Revegetation with Native forage Species

Abstract

The Pantanal have been used for many centuries extensively for grazing livestock. In general,
rangeland located in wetland are more used to grazing by cattle because they have quality
better forage. This selective habit can cause overgrazing and consequent degradation, which
requires knowledge of the grazing process to define agroecological management strategies.
This study describes some agroecological practices for the recovery of degraded native pasture
in the Nhecolândia sub-region, using the deferred grazing, revegetation with native forage
species seeding and soil stirring to stimulate seed bank. These practices were adopted at the
beginning of the rainy season and consisted mainly in the division of the management unit into
two parts so that one of the parts could be fenced during rainy season. Two areas (humid and
seasonal) were selected for evaluation. The recovery process has evolved over the two years
in response to rainfall distribution, variable among months and years. In the second year, an
increment of forage species and soil cover was observed in both areas evaluated.