Rehabilitation with annual pasture mixtures in different Mediterranean regions.

There is a general need of setting up new plant mixtures to rehabilitate degraded lands and toimprove pasture productivity in the Mediterranean rainfed areas. The use of legume mixtures undersub-optimal and variable environmental conditions, like many agro-pastoral regions, could beessential to achieve persistent and high quality pasture swards. Because of their cool-season growthhabit, high adaptation to summer drought through the ability to regenerate dense populations fromyear to year, and plasticity of response to seasonal fluctuations due to the buffering function of theseed reserves in the soil, the annual self-regenerating legumes are extraordinarily suited toMediterranean-type climates (Piano and Talamucci, 1996). The use of annual legume mixtures,including new species and varieties recently released, could improve pasture quality and persistence.Moreover the lengthening of the grazing season seems more effective when different species ofannual self-reseeding legumes such as subterranean clover and burr medic are combined in mixtures(Pardini et al., 1996).