Lolium multiflorum SEEDS IN THE SOIL: I. SOIL SEED BANK DYNAMICS IN A NO TIL SYSTEM1

The objective of the study was to characterize annual ryegrass seed population dynamics, managed for natural re-sowing, in no til systems in rotation with soybean, in different chronosequences An area was cultivated for two years with soybean, left as fallow land for the next two years and then cultivated again with soybean for the next two years. The four chronosequences represented different management periods, two with soybean (6 and 8 years old) and the other two resting (3 and 9 years old). Soil samples were taken every month during one year and divided into two depths (0-5 and 5-10 cm). Vegetation dynamics were also evaluated (number of plants, inflorescences and seedlings). Soil seed bank (SSB) dynamics showed structural patterns in time, with a “storage period” in summer, an “exhausting period” during autumn and a “transition period” in winter and spring. Pasture establishment by natural re-sowing was totally dependent on the annual recruitment of seeds from the soil. The influence of the management practices on the SSB was more important than the number of years that these practices had been implemented. Places where soybean was sown showed the largest SSBs. Most of the seeds overcame dormancy and germinated at the end of the summer and beginning of the autumn, showing a typically transitory SSB, but with a small proportion of persistent seeds.