Determination of hay yield and botanical composition of a range in Ormanardi Village, Bingol

This research was conducted to compare different aspects of rangeland vegetation in Ormanardi Village, Bingol, for hay yield and quality as well as botanical compositions. In this study; cover percentage of the range vegetation, botanical composition, frequency, predominant species in aspects of rangeland, hay yield, botanical composition by weight, grazing capacity, crude protein ratio, crude protein yield, crude ash ratio, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), dry matter digestibility (DMD), dry matter intake (DMI), and relative food value (RFV) characteristics were investigated. Results of the research showed that mean plant basal cover percentage of the range vegetation was 85.8%. Percentages of grasses, legumes and other family plants in the plant cover were 50.4%, 2.3% and 47.2%, respectively. The percentage of legumes ranged from 0.7% to 3.1%, the highest percentage of grasses was in the North and statistically located in the same group in the South aspect, and the highest percentage of other family plants was dominant in the West aspect and statistically located in the same group in the East and South aspects. The most common plants encountered in the range vegetation were Gundelia tournefortii L. var. armata (47.92%), Aegilops umbellulata (43.94%), Taeniatherum caput-medusae (36.04%) and Poa bulbosa var. vivipara (29.54%). The hay yield was statistically significant at 1% level and changed from 23.2 kg/da to 129.3 kg/da depending on the aspects. Grazing capacity of the range was calculated as 18.4 HB. Percent contributions of grasses and other family plants in the hay yield were 67.5% and 32.5%, respectively. Hay yield in the South aspect was mainly composed of grasses while other family plants were main contributory group in the hay yields of the East aspects. The highest crude protein ratio of hay (12.9%) was detected in the South aspect and statistically located in the same group in the West and Easth aspects. Crude protein yields varied from 2.3 kg/da to 16.7 kg/da depending on the aspects, and the aspects were statistically significant at %1 level different in this respect. In the results of research, crude ash, ADF, NDF, DMD, DMI and RFV contents ranged from 6.8 to 8.3%, from 34.8 to 37.4%, from 52.5 to 62.7%, from 59.7 to 61.7%, from 1.12 to 2.28% and from 91.8 to 109.4, respectively. A total of 58 plant taxa from 49 genuses belonging to 21 families were determined in the vegetation. Keywords: Range aspect, hay yield, botanical composition, crude protein ratio.