Effect of substrates on the emergence of a Cerrado grass

Lucas Dias Sanglade,Denilson Rodrigo Vieira Branco,Raquel Stucchi Boschi,Gabriela Strozzi,Vânia Regina Pivello

doi:10.4322/2359-6643.11194

Lucas Dias Sanglade, Denilson Rodrigo Vieira Branco + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4322/2359-6643.11194

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Abstract

Large-scale seedlings production of non-tree species is an obstacle for the advance of ecological restoration of grasslands and savannas ecosystems worldwide. We tested different substrates to verify the germination and emergence of seeds of the species Aristida jubata (Arechav.) Herter - Poaceae. We collected seeds in a “campo sujo” site – a phytophysiognomy of the Cerrado biome in Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Four substrates were tested: sand; sand + vermiculite; vermiculite and clayey soil (collected in a rut) in a random blocks experimental design with four replicates of 25 seeds –100 seeds per treatment. The ANOVA variance test was used for statistical analyses followed by post hoc tests to compare treatments (Tukey test, p=0.05). We found significant substrates effect in vermiculite; sand + vermiculite, sand and clayey soil presented a tendency of lower germination rates.

Highlights

The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biomein territorial extension
The effect of vermiculite in A. jubata seedling emergence was evident since the first evaluation: 56% of emergence 10 days after the beginning of the experiment in vermiculite treatment against 27% in sand and clay soil treatments (Figure 1)
The mean emergence times in different substrate treatments were similar (Table 1) the emergence curve for sand treatments took longer to stabilize when compared to the other treatments, as seen in the emergency rates throughout time (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biomein territorial extension It houses the richest savanna flora in the world, around 12,700 species (Forzza et al 2012), being the vast majority in the herbaceous layer (The Brazil Flora Group 2015). The Cerrado current critical stage of conservation comes from its intense agricultural use and substitution by crop cultures and planted pastures with African grasses. Such grasses have brought another huge ecological problem to the Cerrado: biological invasions (Pivello et al, 1999; Martins et al, 2012; Vieira et al, 2019). Huge extensions of the Cerrado are degraded areas and fragments of secondary vegetation in need of ecological restoration (Durigan et al, 2007; Strassburg et al, 2017)

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