Useful species as quality factors of meadow vegetation on Stara Planina Mountain

Abstract

Meadows and pastures are significant natural source of animal feed and recently their importance is increasing because of the growing trend in the World regarding production of safe food. Therefore, the quality of the biomass obtained from grasslands with high quality plant species, and the possibilities for increasing their proportion in natural grasslands is extremely important. Investigations were carried out on Stara Planina Mountain of 700-800 m a.s.l. Two main plant associations wereas identified: the Agrostietum vulgaris with a total of 47 plant species and Festucetum vallesiacae with 77 plant species. High quality plant species present in these grasslands were classified into three categories: high quality grasses, high quality leguminous plants and useful or conditionally useful plant species belonging to other plant families. The association Agrostietum vulgaris had 11 useful grasses or 23.4%, 15 useful leguminous plants or 32% and 3 or 6.4% of useful and conditionally useful plants. The association Festucetum vallesiacae had 11 high quality grass species or 14.28%, 20 species of high quality leguminous plants or 26% and other useful and conditionally useful plants 11 or 14.28%.