IMPACT OF DIFFERENT COVER ESTABLISHMENT TYPES AND GRAZING ON SPECIES RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION OF PASTURES ON FORMER ARABLE LAND

J. Frelich, K. Novotna, Z. Sykorova, P. Hakrova

Abstract: The impact of different cover establishment types (involving either sown grass-cover mixture containing several species or one sown species) and grazing management on the botanical composition and the species richness of grassland were observed in submontane pastures located in South Bohemia, Czech Republic. Whereas one part of the observed area (HD part) was resown with a grass-clover mixture (6 grass species and 3 clover species), the other (LD part) was sown with oat undersown by ryegrass and after oat harvest, the area has retained spontaneous grassing. The cover of the herb layer, the number of species,
and cover of both sown and unsown species were observed in transect of 5 permanent plots in the HD and LD part of the pasture between 2008 and 2011. After a 10-year grazing regime, the E1 cover was equal in both parts; however, there was a statistically significant increase in the number of species in the LD part, by 4 species on average. Of 84 species that were recorded in total, 51 species were to be found in both locations; moreover, the HD part contained 10 additional species whereas the LD part featured 23 more species. The HD part was dominated by one expressive unsown species, Dactylis glomerata; the sown species significantly reduced the cover and some of them completely disappeared. The LD part was dominated by several species: in addition to Dactylis glomerata also Lolium perene, Agrostis capillaris, Trifolium repens and Poa trivilias. Botanical composition and species richness were influnced more by the type of cover establishment (32% of all data variability) than the grazing (5% of all data variability).

Keywords: grazed ex-fields; seed mixture; species composition; species richness; vegetation

Date published: 2017-10-11