Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology

Invasions are a fundamental driver of ecosystem degradation in many parts of the world. The impact of invasive species on human activities can be associated with livestock production, including interfering with grazing practices, lowering yield and quality of forage, increasing costs of managing and producing livestock, slowing animal weight gain, reducing the quality of meat, milk, wool, and hides, and poisoning livestock. This study provide the characteristics of plant communities in the rangelands invaded by Sida cordifolia L. and the edaphic factors which could governed the distribution of this invasive species. A total of 126 phytosociological plots were established in the invaded rangelands. On each of the above-mentioned plots, five samples of soil were collected at the depth of 20cm and mixed to form a composite sample. The samples were taken for physical and chemical analysis in the Soil Laboratory of Centre for Dryland Agriculture Kano (Nigeria). Among the soil properties measured include particle size distribution (sand, silt, clay), soil reaction (pH), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Organic Carbon (OC), nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Potassium (K), Sodium (Na), Exchange Acidity (EA), Effective Cation Exchange Capacity (ECEC), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn) and Iron (Fe). A total of 180 species belonging to 40 families were recorded in the study area. The Poaceae family with 22.72% of the total flora largely dominate the flora followed by the Fabaceae (18.17%). Shannon diversity index and Evenness indices of these rangelands were low exception of G4 (4.52 bits). The low value of the Shannon index indicated that the environment is unfavorable to floristic diversity while the low Evenness indicated unequal distribution of plant species and dominance of few species. The unequitable distribution of species has probably favoured the proliferation of Sida cordifolia, hence its colonization of rangelands. Therophytes 59.66% were the most dominated in the study area followed by phanerophytes 23.86% in the raw spectrum. The combined effect of overgrazing, climate change and the harmful practice of excessive harvesting of immature fodder by certain actors leads to a regression in the dynamics of rangelands. This may be the cause of the scarcity or even the disappearance of certain fodder species, and the colonization of rangelands by Sida cordifolia. All the plant communities recorded in the rangelands invaded by Sida cordifolia were established on acid soils and their soils structure range from sandy clay loam, sandy loam to loamy. This study revealed that Sida cordifolia pose a threat to rangelands in the study area and this threat results in the modification of the floristic composition.