In Mexico, the grassland represents 40.1% of the total area of the country and it is a source of feed for livestock, although suffers different degrees of degradation due to lack of management and adverse climatic conditions. The problem of the grasslands is complex since it involves diverse type’s soils, presence of invasive plants, low success in the establishment of grasses or replanting, high fluctuation in the rainfall distribution, as well as the low capacity of the soil to retain moisture. Among these constraints, the limited availability of soil moisture in arid conditions, makes these areas more fragile to the degradation of the environment which results in low productivity of the grassland. In this chapter, major ecological limitations of the grassland and techniques which improve the soils moisture retention capacity of the grassland especially in moisture deficit areas will be discussed.
Part of the book: Grasses as Food and Feed