İrfan OĞUZ
Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey. email: irfan.oguz@gop.edu.tr

THE EFFECT OF PLANTING, PROTECTION AND FERTILIZATION APPLICATIONS ON VEGETATION, SOIL PROPERTIES, SOIL LOSS AND SOIL WATER CONTENT IN CENTRAL ANATOLIA DEGRADED RANGELAND

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Soil and vegetation degradation is a serious problem in grasslands in Central Antolian Region of Turkey. Soils and vegetation in this region are highly degraded due to uncontrolled heavy grazing. Measures should be taken to restore the degraded grasslands to effectively combat desertification in these regions. This study was conducted to evaluate treatments; fertilized + planted + protected from grazing (A), Fertilized + protected from grazing (B), protected from grazing (C), and grazed (D) on forage quality and some physical and chemical properties of degraded grassland soils in Karakuz of Sivas, Turkey. Results showed that structural stability, aggregation index, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, CaCO3, potassium (K) and SOM contents were unaffected; and hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, soil extractable P content, CEC, penetration resistance, dry grass yield, and cover percentage were affected significantly by treatments. Runoff and soil loss were not observed in any of the treatments during the five year study period. Fertilizers decreased the diversity (number of species) while it increased the forage quality and yield. During study period, 31 species vanished and 14 new species appeared in fertilized parcels.