The effect of fertilization and weather conditions on the yield of forage and species diversity

The importance of grassland consists not only in forage production but also in non-production functions. Grasslads are particulary important due to high level of biodiversity. For farmers are species rich grasslands less productive and less quality. Nevertheless, these grasslands provide more stable yields and the forage is tastier for livestock. Both agronomists and environmentalists have tackled question whether the productivity of plant communities really depends on the species diversity. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of fertilization and weather conditions on the species diversity and yield of forage. Another goal was to explore if there is a relationship between yield of forage and species diversity. The yields of forage were growing with the increasing intensity of fertilization (P<0.05). On the other hand diversity index was statistically significant lower (P<0.05) in the variants with added of nitrogen in comparison with PK variant. The results showed that there existed negative relationship between yield of forage and diversity index.