The Effect of Mineral Fertilization upon the Floristical Composition of the Mountain

Abstract

The administration of large quantities of chemical fertilizers may strongly diminish the plant diversity of semi-natural grasslands. In the Apuseni Mountains (Romania), the chemical fertilization is rarely used, but, considering the population’s decrease and the livestock diminish, this might have a greater importance in the future. The maintenance of semi-natural grasslands within the mountainous landscape depends greatly on fertilization. Our paper’s goal is to assess the influence of mineral fertilizers upon semi- natural grassland’s plant diversity. Mineral fertilizers complex NPK 20:10:10 ratio was applied in three quantities: 50N 25P 25 K, 100N 50P 50K, and 150N 75P 75 K. The large quantities of mineral fertilizers generated a considerable decrease of the plant diversity.

Responses of Diversity and Productivity to Organo-Mineral Fertilizer Inputs in a High-Natural-Value Grassland, Transylvanian Plain, Romania

“…A study similar to ours found that the specific richness of a grassland included 38 plant species in the control variant and that the natural grasslands have a moderate floristic biodiversity, and by applying the treatments, the specific richness will be reduced simultaneously with the dose of manure applied, results also confirmed by our studies [ 37 ]. Another study conducted in 2007, in the context of long-term experiments in the Czech Republic, found that the application of low-dose manure has significantly contributed to improving and maintaining the number of plant species in the vegetal cover [ 38 ]. This aspect is also confirmed by our results in the variant with 10 t ha −1 manure, where there was a minor change in the floristic composition.…”