Abstract

SOLER, Pedro; BERROTERAN, José L; GIL, José L  and  ACOSTA, Rafael. Litter production of the native vegetation at the high central llanos of Venezuela. Zootecnia Trop. [online]. 2008, vol.26, n.3, pp.265-268. ISSN 0798-7269.

In order to carrying out a study of the litter production of the native vegetation at the high central llanos of Venezuela, a tropical dry forest, the present work was developed. The sampling was stratified by types of vegetation: forest (F), shrubland (Sh), and savanna tree-covered (Sa). Six transects of 400 m^² were defined. The transect was divided into four plots of 100 m^² each one. Twelve litter collectors 0.25 m^² were evenly distributed along the transects. The material captured by the traps was retired once a month, during a year (2004-2005). The litter production was 6.101, 3.829, and 3.606 kg MS/ha/year for F, Sh, and Sa, respectively. The variance analysis showed highly significant differences (P=0.001) among vegetation types. Highly significant differences existed (P<0.01) between forest and shrubland, and between forest and savanna, but not between shrubland and savanna (P>0.10). Litter production took place during the whole year, with maximum at the last months of the year and minimum at the beginning of the year. The results indicated that the forest and shrubland areas, and forest and savanna presented little or no similarity for litter production. The dynamics in the litter production followed a pattern determined by season of the year and it constitutes an important fraction of biomass in all three ecosystems.

Keywords : litter; native vegetation; central llanos.

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