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

• Main Authors: Petrović, M. (Institute of Forage Crops Kruševac, Globoder (Serbia)), Aćić, S. (Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade (Serbia)), Zornić, V. (Institute of Forage Crops Kruševac, Globoder (Serbia)), Anđelković, B. (Institute of Forage Crops Kruševac, Globoder (Serbia)), Dajić-Stevanović, Z. (Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade (Serbia)), Babić, S. (Institute of Forage Crops Kruševac, Globoder (Serbia))
• Format: Publication
• Language: English
• Published: Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun (Serbia) 2013
• Subjects: cluster sampling; grasslands; multivariate analysis; natural grasslands; qualitative analysis; Serbia

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 relevé of the community. For testing this numerical method, the total of 11 relevés of 4 grassland communities of hilly-mountainous area of Mt. Kopaonik was used. Analyzed vegetation includes previously unpublished phytocenological relevés as result of our own field research. All analyzed relevés 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.