Emergence and seedling survival of caldén in the semiarid region of Argentina

Abstract

Caldén (Prosopis caldenia Burk.) is one of the woody species that is increasing in abundance due to poor grazing management in the semiarid region of central Argentina. The objectives of this work were to evaluate emergence and seedling survival of caldén under grazed-low herbaceous foliar cover, and ungrazed-intermediate and ungrazed-high herbaceous foliar cover. Seedling emergence was recorded weekly after 3 planting dates: October 1987, September 1988, and October 1989. Seedling survival was recorded every 2 weeks until all seedlings died. Precipitation, soil water potential, and soil temperature were monitored during the study period. Since caldén only reproduces from seeds, optimal conditions for germination under different controlled photoperiod and temperature regimes were also studied. In the laboratory, greatest germination of freshly harvested unscarified seeds occurred at a diurnally alternating temperature regime of 15 and 30 degrees C with light provided for 9 hours. Lead germination occurred at 15 degrees C and continuous darkness. Acid scarification significantly increased germination percentage and germination rate. Unscarified seeds incubated in light exhibited a lower rate of germination than scarified seeds under all temperatures. In the field, soil water availability was usually similar among the 3 experimental conditions. Soil temperature was only occasionally higher in the grazed-low herbaceous cover site. Only for 1987 data, emergence was greater on the grazed area with relatively low herbaceous foliar cover and similar within the ungrazed area. Treatment effect was very little on seedling survival, being lower in the grazed area for only 2 evaluation dates in 1989. Regardless of treatment the emerged seedlings survived 40 days on the average. The highest caldén seedling mortality was always coincident with higher soil temperature and lower soil water availability.