Exploitation of soil properties for controlling herbaceous plant communities in an organic cultivation of lippia citriodora in the mediterranean landscape

Abstract

Soil plays an important role in the creation and heterogeneity of habitats and thus can cause changes in plant structure, diversity and density. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of soil properties on herbaceous plant density in an organic cultivation “L. citriodora”. The soil properties of the adjacent natural environment (11 years abandoned ecosystem), which served as a control were also examined and compared with those of the organic cultivation “L. citriodora”. The study was conducted in April-May 2016, 2017 and 2018 of central Greece. In total, 29 species of herbaceous plants (20 plant species in the L. citriodora ecosystem and 14 plant species in an abandoned ecosystem, p < 0.05) were recorded in the study area. Our study highlights an increase in herbaceous plant density with increasing soil organic matter, P and K in an organic cultivation of “L. citriodora” ecosystem. Conclusively, this study could be exploited as a valuable tool to the scientific and agricultural community because of that the soil-plant relation is important from the conservation biology point of view and aid in the implementation of preventive plans for the biodiversity conservation. © 2020, Agricultural Academy, Bulgaria. All rights reserved.