Legume-Grass Ratio and some Soil Properties in Four Vegetation Types in Steppe Rangelands of Iran (Case study: Peshert Rangelands in Chahardangeh Sari, Iran)
Nahid Jabbari
1
(Tarbiat Modares University,Iran)
Ghasem Ali Dianati Tilaki
2
(Tarbiat Modares University, Iran)
Hassan Ghelichnia
3
(Associate Professor, Forest and Rangeland Research Department. Mazandaran Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Sari, Iran)
الکلمات المفتاحية: Soil nutrients, Species Diversity, Soil fertility, biological form, Physical properties of soil,
ملخص المقالة :
TThe Leguminosae family plays a significant role in rangeland ecosystems with biological nitrogen fixation for soil fertility. The grasses significantly increase rangeland production and sustainability. Legume-Grass Ratio (LGR) is an indicator of soil fertility. This study was aimed to investigate the LGR and some soil properties in four vegetation types (Stipa arabica Trin.-Medicago sativa L., Festuca ovina L.-Astragalus gossypinus Fisc., Artemisia sieber Besser-Festuca ovina and Artemisia sieberi) in the Peshert rangeland, Chahardangeh Sari, Iran in 2020. In this research, 40 plots of 1m2 were randomly established in four vegetation types. In each plot, vegetation characteristics including the number of species per unit area were recorded. Soil sampling was done at a depth of 0-20 cm for each plot. Finally, 40 soil samples were analysed in the laboratory for soil properties including: Carbon (C), Soil Organic Matter (SOM), Bulk Density (BD), Aggregate Stability (AS), Particulate Organic Matter (POM), soil texture, available potassium (K), Nitrogen (N), EC and pH, available Phosphorus (P) and carbon to nitrogen ratio. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Duncan’s test was used to compare the differences between four vegetation types for LGR, species diversity and soil properties. SPSS-v20 software was used for data analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences between four vegetation types for all the traits (P≤0.05). The highest and lowest LGR with average values of 0.86 and 0.10 were observed in S. arabica-M. sativa and Ar. sieberi-F. ovina, respectively. The lowest amounts of AS%, SOM%, N% and POM% with average values of 0.31, 0.62, 0.03, 3.53 were observed in Ar. sieberi. In all vegetation types, soil fertility decreased by decreasing the LGR.
