A survey of grazed and ungrazed grassland in the south‐eastern Transvaal highveld 1. Palatability composition and grazing capacity

Abstract

The floristic composition of selected veld communities which by virtue of their location were ungrazed, but regularly burned, and which were judged to reflect potential floristic composition, was measured at 112 sites in the southeastern Transvaal highveld. At each site the composition of the adjacent grazed veld was also determined. Species were classified as palatable, intermediate or unpalatable and the percentages of these components were calculated for each of the 224 stands. By using previously established weighting values, namely, 3; 2 and 1 for the three components, a weighted palatability composition (WPC) value was derived for each community. Changes in the proportions of the palatability classes along the WPC gradient, as well as the frequency distributions of WPC values and grazing capacity on grazed and ungrazed stands, are presented.