Restoration of riparian vegetation on a small farm

Abstract

Resumo Matas ciliares são ecossistemas que prestam diversos serviços ambientais e têm proteção jurídica. No meio oeste de Santa Catarina, a degradação delas tem ocorrido, em grande parte, pela prática da atividade Riparian forests are ecosystems that provide various environmental services and have legal protection. In the middle west of Santa Catarina state the degradation of Riparian forests have occurred, largely, by the practice of farming, especially in small farms, which will have to follow the new environmental code henceforth and restore such areas. The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate the initial phase of the restoration of a riparian forest, degraded by grazing cattle on small farm in order to support restoration activities for small producers. For this purpose, we used two restoration techniques: natural regeneration by isolating the area and diverse row planting. To evaluate the first it was installed ten randomized sampling of 4 m each, where we analyzed the occurrence of seedlings and young plants and measured the growth in height of a sample of these after 75 days. For planting, it was carried out tillage, crown and ant control. We used native species, pioneers and non-pioneers and we evaluated the survival of seedlings after thirty days. For natural regeneration, the results showed a significant increase in the wealth of plants in each plot, with overall increase of 7.69% and an increase in height (average 3.96 cm). The planting presented a survival rate of 94.15% and there was no difference between the pioneer group and the non-pioneer one. The results showed that in the planting technique of the species it is necessary to invest resources and time together with cultural practices to maintain high the survival rate of seedlings. On the other hand, the isolation technique of area has significant results even in the short term. It is operationally simpler and it is indicated to assist small producers in the restoration of riparian forests. Key words: grazing, planting seedlings, natural regeneration.