Cultivated wilt plant mixtures – Description of their botanical appearance as a basis for the assessment of possible ecological potentials

Abstract

Promotional measures of the Renewable Energy Act have led to a strong increase in maize cultivation area, especially in areas with a high density of animal fattening farms. Biomass for fermentation in biogas plants can also be produced with perennially cultivated wild plant mixtures. In this way, energy can be produced in a CO₂-neutral way, and at the same time biodiversity can be increased, habitat availability improved and the resilience of the landscape is enhanced. The presented work describes the botanical situation on such a wild plant area during the three stand years mapped. With the help of pointer values according to Landolt, the resulting biotopes are described. According to our results, these crops offer potential due to their high heat and drought tolerance, the ability to retain soil moisture capacity as well as to bind nitrogen and accumulate humus. The increase in biodiversity is accompanied by an – for agricultural crops – unusually high blossom supply.