Impact of watering points on vegetation changes of a semi-arid natural pasture in Tekirdag Province, Turkey

Abstract

The research was carried out on natural pastures of Buzagici village of Tekirdag province, Turkey in 2005. The objective of this study was to determine effects of watering points on canopy cover, botanical composition, and hay yields of pastures using transect method. Data were collected from 4 different sites of natural pasture, two of which had watering points (sites 1 and 2), and two that had no watering points (sites 3 and 4). In sites 1 and 2, which had watering points, the percentage of botanical composition and percentage of canopy cover by grasses were less than in sites 3 and 4, which did not have watering points. The percentage of grasses in total vegetation increased with increasing distance from watering points. The highest total hay yield was obtained from site 4 (615.90 kg ha(-1)); the lowest yield of total hay was obtained from site 2 (450.00 kg ha(-1)). The periphery of watering points is always overgrazed by animals since they often visit watering points to drink water; therefore, those areas are generally covered by other families which have low feeding value.