Herbaceous vegetation response to controlled fire and postfire defoliation in a semiarid rangeland of Argentina

Semiarid rangelands of central Argentina are shaped by fire and grazing. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of controlled fire on aboveground biomass production of (1) herbaceous species as a whole group and (2) herbaceous species subclassified as desirable or undesirable perennial grasses and as herbaceous forbs at the end of two growing seasons after an experimental fire in a semiarid rangeland of central Argentina. The effect of the length of the resting period after fire on aboveground biomass production of desirable perennial grass species was also assessed; treatments consisted in defoliations at the end of the first and second postfire growing seasons, at the beginning and at the end of the second postfire growing season and only at the end of the second postfire growing season. Total biomass production of the burned treatments was higher than that of the control treatment, the difference being attributed to an increase in desirable perennial grass species biomass. This in turn was negatively affected by defoliation at the end of the first postfire growing season, suggesting that the beneficial effect of fire on biomass production might have been overridden by the stress imposed by an early defoliation. Overall, the results of the present study suggest that grazing should be held back for at least a whole year after the fire to achieve the pursued aim of increasing forage production by the use of controlled fire.