Ecological-agricultural perspective on the quality of pasture vegetation

One of the important goals of current research is to find a balance between the diversity of grass covers and their economically sustainable use for farming purposes. The aim of this study was to find relationships between the number of species (N), the Shannon-Wiener index (H), the forage value of vegetation (FV) and the proportion of grasses (G), legumes (L) and other forbs (F). Eleven extensively grazed pasture vegetations, located at the foothills of Sumava and Nove Hrady mountain ranges in South Bohemia, were selected with permanent plots marked out for phytosociological monitoring. The results proved a statistically confirmed positive correlation between the N and H factors and a negative correlation between these two diversity indicators and the forage value of vegetation. Pasture vegetations are significantly influenced by the proportion of grasses, legumes and other forbs. The average number of species and the Shannon-Wiener index increases with the growing proportion of other forbs while the forage value decreases. The observed pasture vegetations were predominantly evaluated as “good/valuable” and “very good/most valuable”.