Botanical composition, forage yield and quality under different improved Mediterranean rangeland

Proliferation of invasive of annual plant species and thorny shrubs such as Christ’s thorn(Paliurus spina-christi) is common in Mediterranean rangelands due to climatic shifts andheavy grazing. Improved practices are needed to manage such invasive species. This studyassessed how improved rangeland practices affected herbage yield and quality, botanicalcomposition in the Canakkale in western Turkey. The rangeland practices were: 1. control (noimprovement practices (C), 2. removal of Christ’s thorns followed by forage crop planting (R),3. use of herbicides to treat Christ’s thorn shrubs (H), 4. removal of Christ’s thorn shrubs bygrubbing with dozers and rippers (M), and 5. the shrubs were cut out in the rangelandsdominated with Christ’s thorn. The field has been plowed deep by a tractor. Then, it had beenused as field for 10 years (sown with wheat). At the end, it has been turned back in the form ofrangelands by sowing forage crops (F). The seeding practice has been done into bare parts ofthe rangelands that were occurred due to the removal of Christ’s thorn. The treatment plotswere seeded with perennial ryegrass, orchardgrass and alfalfa. Control had the greatest numberof species (45 species) whereas mechanically-treated plot had the least (28 species). Alltreatments increased herbage yield and grazed herbage quantities of the rangelands. Themechanically-treated rangeland increased yield by 2.5 folds compared with control.Treatments did not affect herbage quality of the rangelands. Results indicate that improvementpractices improved rangelands invaded with Christ’s thorn shrubs.