Anadolu Journal of Agricultural Sciences

Abstract

After the rangeland law has been implemented, the areas used for field have been started to be converted to rangelands. A forage mixture of alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, perennial ryegrass, and smooth brome was sown in the rangeland of Hacıpehlivan village, Biga, Çanakkale in 2004 fall. Trial was carried out for two years (2006-2007) in this artificial pasture to determine dry forage production, the amount and ratio of forage consumed, botanical composition, nutritional composition of forage, soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter, total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), exchangeable K, Ca, Mg, bulk density and total porosity. Total forage production (449.1 and 437.8 kg/da) and forage consumption (431.4 and 412.9 kg/da) of the pasture were found to be high in both years. Although the forage production spread over seasons, the highest production with average 327.3 kg/da was observed in the spring, followed by summer and fall (average 64.5 and 51.7 kg/da, respectively). The amount of forage consumed decreased from spring to fall, and about 95% of the production was consumed. Botanical composition of the rangeland was composed of mostly grasses and legumes as the mixture of these species were sown. However, the ratio of the grasses decreased from 76.8 to 59.7% in the second year due to heavy grazing. Some of the grasses were replaced with the species in other families in summer and fall. The forage of rangeland contained high level of protein at the beginning of grazing and in fall (150.6 and 141.1 g/kg, respectively). NDF and ADF contents were low (450.0 and 379.8 g/kg, respectively) at the beginning of grazing and high at other times. At the end of two year grazing, organic matter, total N, exchangeable K and bulk density significantly increased in the soil, while available P, exchangeable Ca, and total porosity decreased. Soil pH, EC, and exchangeable Mg levels did not vary significantly. Consequently, establishing artificial pastures in suitable places seems reasonable for high production and consumption. However, heavy grazing may cause big losses in the species sown and increase low quality species. Chemical and physical properties of the soil could be improved in the artificial pasture soils in spite of the heavy grazing.