FORESTRY RESTORATION IN ABANDONED PASTURES OF Urochloa BY DIFFERENT SIZES OF BRUSHWOOD

ABSTRACT The brushwood is a technique of environmental complexation, which consists in the use of plant residues. This technique, when well established technically, can exert influence on seedbed quality, fostering native plant establishment and ecosystem restoration. In this way, we aimed to evaluate the efficiency of brushwood for the induction of natural regeneration of native species in an area covered by exotic inhibitory grasses of the genus Urochloa, as well as check the minimum size required to prevent the re-invasion of the forage. As a hypothesis, we adopted the minimum width of 4 m as sufficient for the establishment of natural regeneration prior to the reoccupation of grasses. The experiment was conducted between May 2014 and May 2016 in Morretes-PR in a lowland evergreen rain forest area. Seven different sizes of brushwood were compared: 6 x 1, 6 x 2, 6 x 3, 6 x 4, 6 x 5, 6 x 6 m and control treatment. Woody species were identified and counted and herbaceous cover percentage estimated after 4, 8, 12, 18 and 24 months. There was no resumption of natural succession of native species. At any size, brushwood alone was ineffective to prevent the growth by grasses from the edges of the plots, and, since it constitutes a residue pile, it further complicates the establishment of woody species. For the creation of safe sites and consequent restoration by natural regeneration, there is a need for local elimination of Urochloa forages, without which native species are unlikely to survive.