Impacts of ground cover vegetation on natural regeneration of wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica) (Case study: wild pistachio experimental forest, Fars province)

In order to study the relation between ground cover vegetation including shrubs and bushes, and natural regeneration of wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica), a research project was carried out in 4 ha in an protected area in wild pistachio experimental forest of Fars province. Statistical analysis using T-test showed that fencing of the area within studied 5 years had no significant impact on establishment of natural regeneration of wild pistachio. The regression between number of shrubs such as Amygdalus scoparia, A. lycioides and A. ebornea and the number of natural regeneration (seedlings) of wild pistachio was computed as y=5.8207x0.6499 (R2=0.755). Therefore, we can conclude that improvement of shrubs and bushes could be an effective alternative for rehabilitation of degraded wild pistachio forests.