Effects of mesquite control and mulching treatments on herbaceous productivity and soil properties

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of mesquite overstory removal and modifications of soil properties due to mulching treatments on herbaceous production. The three overstory treatments were complete removal of mesquite overstory with no removal of regrowth, complete removal of mesquite overstory with removal of regrowth and an untreated control. The mulching treatments included applications of chip mulch, commercial compost, lopped-and-scattered mesquite branchwood and a control. Both overstory treatments resulted in an increase of over 20% in total annual herbaceous production. The overstory treatment of complete removal of mesquite overstory with no removal of regrowth had the greatest impact on fall production of native herbaceous species during years of relatively high precipitation, at times increasing production by almost 2-fold. Mulching treatments had no effect on herbaceous production; however, soil pH and plant available phosphorus was affected by some of the mulching treatments.