Evaluation of the potential of top soil and hay transfer to restore the grassland savanna

Abstract

The restoration of forest ecosystems in Brazil has been successful with techniques that are based on the planting of tree seedlings. However, these techniques have not been successful in the Cerrado, so the search for innovative techniques of restoration is necessary, especially for grassland physiognomies. Studies in different parts of the world point out the implementation of topsoil and hay transfer as successful techniques for restoring grassland plant communities. To verify whether these techniques have the potential for application in the Brazilian Cerrado, we will collect material (topsoil and hay) from the Ecological Station of Santa Barbara and will set up an experiment in Assis State Forest. We will test three treatments - 1) topsoil, 2) hay and 3) topsoil + hay, and maintain control plots in a randomized block experiment with five replicates. We expect that at least a portion of the native flora of the native Cerrado grassland can be recovered by these techniques and we hope to indicate the most promising technique among those to be tested.(AU)