Abstract

PORTA SIOTA, Fernando; PETRUZZI, Horacio; SAWCZUK, Natalia  and  MORICI, Ernesto. Rehabilitation of semi-arid grasslands: development of a native grass seed harvester. Multequina [online]. 2021, vol.30, n.2, pp.157-164. ISSN 1852-7329.

In Argentina, the Espinal region, Caldén District, currently has native forest and natural grasslands ecosystems degraded due to inappropriate use. Livestock generates changes in the floristic composition, disappearance of the most desired species and their replacement by others of lower quality forage or exotic. The increase in the density of woody species, the decrease in the density of forage species and the increase of non-forage species, limit primary productivity. Improvement practices include manual or mechanical thinning of woody trees, and prescribed burning for areas with non-forage dominance. However, without the addition of seeds of forage species in the intervened areas no improvement of the grassland occurs. The development of a native species harvester will allow obtaining seeds of forage species which could be incorporated in degraded areas in order to restore the caldenal grasslands. The operation is based on a Stripper-type head. It has a rotor with brushes and a tank. It is used on the front of a vehicle. The working width is 0.90 m, with a capacity of 60 L. It allows collecting between 35-40 kg of fruits per hour, likes Piptocheatium napostaense.

Keywords : Piptochaetium napostaense; Caldenal; Short grassland.

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