Floristic Patterns and Qualities of Forage Species from Mountainous Rangeland in the Middle Black Sea Region of Turkey

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the floristic features (family, preference by grazers, growth form and response to grazing) and qualities of forage species collected from mountainous rangeland (Akdağ Mountain, Ladik) in the middle Black Sea region of Turkey. Forage samples were collected five times by 15-day intervals from the before-flowering stage to the after-flowering stage in 2015 and 2016. The total number of species was 105 species belonging to 73 genera and related to 26 families. Of the total species, 20 were from Poaceae (19.0%), 30 were from Poaceae (28.6%). Rests of the species belonged to other families (52.4%) dominated by families such as Asteraceae (13/55) and Lamiaceae (6/55), of which 26 species were weeds harmful to animals. While the percentages of decreaser, increaser and invader species were 16.2, 12.4 and 71.4, those of annual, biennial and perennial species were 31.9, 2.9 and 65.2, respectively. The number of species preferred by grazing was 74 (70.5%), while the number of non-preferable species was 31 (29.5%). The ME (MJ kg-1), RFQ and quality category of legumes, grass, and other botanical families were found as 8.88±0.07, 130.9±3.05 and very good, 8.00±0.07, 83.2±1.62 and good, and 8.98±0.07, 141.0±3.62 and premium, respectively. These results can be used as a management tool to improve rangeland quality and sustainability. The evidence from this study is that floristic pattern is not merely a result of invader forage species, but also might be a beneficial result that deserves further study for mountainous rangelands.