Ecorestoration of Banni Grassland - Global Restoration Network

Ecorestoration of
Banni Grassland
Between October and December, amongst the six
(including Cyperus haspan) selected species (Table
27), except Scirpus sp. all other species showed an
increase in the unploughed area. Sporobolus sp.
was totally absent in the unprotected area while it
showed an increasing trend in all the sub-compartments
of the restoration site except in ploughed
area, where it decreased slightly (1.2 per cent).
Echinocloa sp. showed a decreasing trend in all
the areas except in unploughed and horizontal slope
of the restoration site and unprotected area where
it was absent. The increase of Cyperus haspan
during this period was high in narrow horizontal
slopes (66.8 per cent) and was followed by
unploughed (24.3 per cent) and ploughed (2.2 per
cent) areas while it decreased tremendously in broad
slopes (64.8 per cent), narrow vertical slopes (28.4
per cent) and outside area (35.9 per cent).
Aeluropus logopoides was the only species, which
showed an increasing trend in all the sub-compartments
of restoration site and outside area. The increase
was high in horizontal slopes (2142.3 per
cent), followed by vertical slope (1730.2 per cent),
unploughed (819.9 per cent) and broad slopes (605.6
per cent). Cenchrus sp. was another species, which
showed an increasing trend in all the sub-compartments
of the restoration site except in the ploughed
area and unprotected area where it was totally absent.
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Table 28: Percentage Contribution of Cressa cretica at Dhordo
Details Restoration Site (A) Degraded Site (B) Prosopis Area (C) Total
Biomass (kg/ha) 213.1 98.2 93.4 404.7
Mean total Biomass (kg/ha) 2872.5 342.1 314.9 3529.5
% Contribution of Cressa to the
mean total Biomass
Details Unploughed Ploughed Slope
Broad
5.7 BIOMASS OF HERBACEOUS SPECIES -
Cressa cretica
The herbaceous stratum of restoration site and
surrounding area was dominated by Cressa cretica
commonly known as o/’en. The species had a dense
growth with an average height of 12 cm. It has
ethnobotanical values such as; useful medicine for
reducing cough, respiratory ailments and deworming
agent for human as well as livestock
(Indhrajee, 1998). This species also increases milk
yield as well as the sweetness of milk. Buffalo
generally prefers to feed on this herbaceous species.
At Dhordo, percentage contribution of Cressa
cretica to the mean biomass was very low in the
restoration site (7.4 per cent) whereas it increased
to 28.7 per cent at site B and 29.7 per cent at site C
(Table 28). At Bhirandiyara restoration site, Cressa
cretica contributed about 21.2 per cent of the
biomass. Among the sub-compartments, the
unploughed area had the lowest biomass
contribution of Cressa cretica (4.4 per cent) and
was followed by vertical slope (20.4). In the other
sub-compartments, it contributed more than 25 per
cent to the total biomass, with a maximum
contribution of 34.7 per cent in horizontal slopes.
In the unprotected area, it contributed about 15.2
percentage of the biomass (Table 29).
7.4 28.7 29.7 11.5
Slope
Vertical
Slope
Horizontal
Total Outside
Biomass 103.1 444.1 436.7 210.0 407.6 1601.5 193.4
Mean Total Biomass
(include C. haspan)
% of Cressa to Mean
Total Biomass
Table 29: Percentage Contribution of Cressa cretica at Bhirandiyara
2358.7 1677.7 1321.4 1030.7 1175.5 7564 1274.1
4.4 26.5 33.0 20.4 34.7 21.2 15.2