Nutritive value of vegetation in Christ’s thorn shrublands in Porrogia, Serres Greece

Rangelands constitute the most significant land resource of our country, occupying over than 40% of its surface. Shrublands constitute a large part of rangeland areas in northern Greece. Deciduous shrublands dominated by the Christ’s thorn (Paliurus spina – christi Miller) are considered to be very important, due to the fact that they provide nutritious forage for grazing animals. Christ’s thorn is a species extremely resistant to grazing. The objective of this research was the determination of the chemical composition (CP, NDF, ADF, ADL) and the estimation of Dry Matter Digestibility (DMD) of Christ’s thorn and its understory herbaceous vegetation in central north Greece, at two regions of different altitude. Two areas were selected in Porrogia Serres; High and Low Porrogia, in Christ’s thorn shrublands for this purpose, taking into account the differences between altitudes. Several sampling areas were selected within each location where annual twigs and foliage of Christ’s thorn were collected. Furthermore, the above – ground biomass of the understory herbaceous vegetation was collected for the estimation of its nutritive value. CP content of Paliurus was significantly higher in Low Porrogia, while no significant differences were detected for NDF, ADF, ADL and DMD contents between the two study areas. No significant differences were also detected for CP and ADL contents of the herbaceous vegetation between the two study areas. NDF and ADF contents of the herbaceous vegetation were significantly higher in Low Porrogia, while DMD content was significantly higher in High Porrogia. These differences could be associated with the differences in altitude and vegetation composition.