Evaluation of quality of semi-natural grasslands of central Serbia upon phytosociological and numerical analysis

• Published in: Biotechnology in animal husbandry Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 363 - 371
• Main Authors: Petrovic, M., Acic, S., Zornic, V., Andjelkovic, B., Dajic-Stevanovic, Z., Babic, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• ISSN: 1450-9156; 2217-7140
• DOI: 10.2298/BAH1302363P

The aim of this paper is to present a numeric-statistical model by which it is possible to evaluate the quality of the observed grassland upon floristic and vegetation assessment. Thanks to this new methodological approach, the impact of each individual plant species on overall quality of the grassland could be estimated. The main goal was to determine species which significantly determine the pastoral value of the grassland. The quality (pastoral value) of the grassland was calculated using the numerical values of quality index of each individual species of each relev? of the community. For testing this numerical method, the total of 11 relev?s of 4 grassland communities of hilly-mountainous area of Mt. Kopaonik was used. Analyzed vegetation includes previously unpublished phytocenological relev?s as result of our own field research. All analyzed relev?s were obtained using the method of the Swiss-French phytocenological school. The results showed that the best and the worst quality were determined for the ass. Festuco-Brometum erectii, and the ass. Nardetum strictae, respectively. Species that highly contributed to good and bad quality of grassland were Arrhenatherum elatius, Festuca rubra, Dactylis glomerata, Trifolium repens, etc., and Carduus alpestris, Hieracium hoppeanum, Ornithogalum umbelatum, respectively.