Abstract

BARAJAS-GUZMAN, María Guadalupe  and  BARRADAS, Víctor L.. Costs and benefits of mulches application in the reforestation of tropical deciduous forests. Bot. sci [online]. 2013, vol.91, n.3, pp.363-370. ISSN 2007-4476.

Mulches increase the plant survival, promoting growth when reforesting tropical dry areas, and make more efficient economic resources. Two objectives were raised: (1) to determine in two years the efficiency in reforestation and (2) to perform an analysis of the economic cost of using mulches in the reforestation and the generation of the seedlings. Therefore, the effect on survival and growth of three selected native species in a degraded area of a tropical deciduous forest was evaluated. The study period was dry, with half of the average of annual rainfall. Forty eight plots of mulches with alfalfa straw, forest litter, white polyethylene and bare soil, were used. Growth was the highest in the plot of polyethylene mulch than the other treatments. Ipomoea wolcottiana and Caesalpinia eriostachys had the highest growth and survival rates and Lonchocarpus eriocarinalis the lowest in polyethylene mulch. Reforestation with polyethylene mulch was less expensive than the other two.

Keywords : Caesalpinia eriostachys; ecological restoration; Ipomoea wolcottiana; Lonchocarpus eriocarinalis; low precipitation.