Abstract

BALANDRAN VALLADARES, Martha; OJEDA BARRIOS, Dámaris Leopoldina; MELGOZA CASTILLO, Alicia  and  MATA GONZALEZ, Ricardo. Emergence and survival of natal grass in different types of soil and patterns of humidity-drought. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2015, vol.33, n.2, pp.169-178. ISSN 2395-8030.

Invasive plants affect the function and composition of native ecosystems. Natal grass [Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka] is an introduced invasive plant species that has had increasing presence in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. In order to determine possible propagation, emergence and survival of M. repens were assessed in a greenhouse using soils from four areas with different vegetation types and humidity-drought patterns (low, poor, medium and high) during the summer in Chihuahua. Vegetation types were scrubland, medium grassland, halophytic grassland with deep alluvial soil and forest with colluvial soil. Data were analyzed as categorical data and a proportions test in normal distributions was performed for the comparison of means. Seeds germinated in all soils from four areas with different vegetation types and humidity-drought patterns. However, most emergence, 92%, occurred in deep alluvial soil from medium grassland with a humidity-drought sequence of 120 mm, representing annual precipitation of 12 days (P < 0.0008). Plants survived 12 to 24 days without watering but not 36 days. M. repens grass is able to germinate in any of the soils from the four areas with different vegetation types and its emergence is not prevented by low or abundant humidity.

Keywords : Melinis repens; invasive plants; germination.

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