Impacts of controlling exotic grasses on natural regeneration of <i>Eremanthus incanus</i> (Less.) Less

Brazil's Cerrado, a biodiversity‐rich biome, has faced significant exploitation and degradation. Restoration projects aim to revive native plant communities, highlighting Eremanthus incanus , an endangered pioneering tree vital for colonizing disturbed Campo Rupestre areas but threatened by commercial use. Our objective was to evaluate the efficiency of different exotic grass control methods to promote the natural regeneration of E. incanus in a Cerrado. The experiment was designed as a randomized complete block design ( n = 3). The treatments were crowning the seedlings with herbicide, crowning the seedlings with a coastal brush cutter, and control with herbicide in the total area, crowning the seedlings with a hoe. These forms of control were combined with maintaining or removing straw and fertilizing or not fertilizing the seedlings. Additionally, we had a control treatment without interventions and another with fertilization of seedlings. At 15 months after the application of the procedures, we evaluated the percentage of ingress, survival, increment in height, and diameter at ground height (DGH) of E. incanus individuals. Straw removal treatments promoted a higher percentage of individual entry, regardless of the form of control used. Fertilization had no effect on E. incanus survival in straw removal plots. Weeding with a brush cutter enhanced seedling height and DGH, while herbicide application and crowning with a hoe, combined with straw removal, effectively controlled invasive grasses and improved E. incanus establishment and survival. Control and management of invasive grasses improve the biological conditions of the sites and facilitate the establishment and growth of E. incanus seedlings.