Autecology of Carogana grandiflora Case study: Poldasht, West Azarbaijan - Iran

Preservation, regeneration, development and management of renewable natural resources (especially vegetation cover) need precise and comprehensive knowledge. In this research, autecology of Caragana grandiflora sp. was studied in Poldasht, West Azarbayjan province. This species is a perennial plant from Fabaceae family. To study the autecology of this perennial plant species, the habitat was determined by field observations and available reports and then climatic and edaphic characteristics of the habitat, plant root system, phenology, reproduction and food compounds were analyzed. The results showed that the habitat of this species was very limited and scattered throughout the North West of the study area. Mean annual precipitation of the habitat was 312.6 mm and mean annual temperature was 12.8 ċ. This species grows in calcic soils with a sandy texture and a PH of 7.5 to 7.67 and an EC of 7.05 to 1.22 ds m-1. The roots of this species is straight, branched and rhizomic that penetrates up to 1.2 m into soil and spreads out up to 3.2 m when encounters a hard and impervious layer. Study of this plant showed that its canopy cover was from 18.63% to 31.12%. Phenological phenomena begin when it sprouts at late February and continues till middle April in the study area. The flowering period is from May to June. It is full of the fruits from middle June and the seed ripens in July. The Laboratory data was analyzed by SPSS software mean comparison was done by Duncan test. Aboveground organ of the plant contains 21.94, 29.37 and 14.25 crude protein respectively in growth, flowering and seeding periods. This species is recommended for range improvement and reclamation in rangelands which have similar ecological condition to West Azarbayjan.