Impact of Soil Factors and Management Systems on Pasture Vegetation in Tekirdag, Turkey

Abstract

The focus of my research is to determine the impact of soil factors and management systems on the vegetation composition of the Yukarisevindikli natural pasture in Teldrdag, Turkey. Measurements in the pasture were taken during three different management systems (grazed, abandoned, and mowed). Multivariate relationships between environmental variables and vegetation composition were determined using redundancy analysis (RDA) using the CANOCO (4.5) program. This research found that soil parameters and management systems had effects on dry matter yield and pasture species in the Yukarisevindikli pasture. Using RDA, which is among the ordination analyses, the effect of environmental factors on species distribution and dry matter yield was found to be very important on each axis. It was determined that Lolium perenne is common on certain sites that are mown and protected while Vulpia ciliata among graminae is the plant of grazed sites. In the study, it was determined that the low amount of organic matter and soil nutrients in grazed pasture sites negatively affects both the plant species composition and dry matter yield. The method of usage and soil structure will comprise an important function in the success of pasture management and overall improvement by assessing the collected data. In this context, the protection of the pasture and not allowing heavy grazing from time to time will ensure that the pasture can be used more profitably. As a result, in the future, similar studies should be conducted to understand better the dynamics of a pasture eco-system in natural areas.