Background and objectives: Site demands and characteristics of different plant species is necessary for forest protection and restoration. Therefore, soil properties determination is one of the most important steps in plant species site demands determination. This research was conducted to understand sire demands of Lonicera nummulariifolia in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. Besides, to determine the most important soil factors affecting on L. nummulariifolia distribution.
Materials and methods: Four sites including Gazestan (1792 m above sea level), Samsami (2210 m a.s.l.), Kohrang (2215 m a.s.l.), and Ardal (1531 m a.s.l.) were selected in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Soil samples were taken from the depth of 0-30 cm. soil physicochemical properties including soil nitrogen, available potassium, organic carbon, pH, and electrical conductivity, were determined. Besides, quantitative characteristic of trees (tree diameter, height, and crown diameter) were measured. Soil properties were evaluated using one-way ANOVA. Furthermore, principal component analysis was used to determine the most important soil variables affecting L. nummulariifolia distribution.
Results: Results of this study indicated that the tallest and shortest trees with the average of 2.26 and 1.57 belonged to the Kograng and Gazestan, respectively. Also, trees origin in the Samsami site was coppice while in the other three sites they were high stands. Soil physicochemical properties indicated that soil electrical conductivity, nitrogen and organic matter had no significant differences between studied sites. Furthermore, soil pH was almost neutral in studied sites and showed no significant differences. While, Kohrang and Gazestan had the highest significant value of potassium. The least value of potassium was belonged to the Samsami. While, the most and least values of silt belonged to the Gazestan and Kohrang, respectively. Gazestan had the least value of soil sand percent compared to the other studied sites. Conical correspondence analysis indicted that the most important factors affecting L. nummulariifolia distribution are soil organic matter, nitrogen, potassium, electrical conductivity, clay, aspects, and slope respectively.
Conclusion: L. nummulariifolia distribution demands for sites with the higher soil nutrient and organic carbon. Also, it’s prefer neutral soil pH. In the other world soil physiochemical properties play and important role in L. nummulariifolia distribution and information about site requirements of this species could help to identify proper sites for reforestation to enrichments of Zagros forest.
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