Abstract
Grasslands, including pastures and meadows, represent a fundamental component of agroecosystems and constitute a key part of the forage for ruminant livestock in Bulgaria. During the period 2015–2024, significant changes have been observed in the area, productivity, and botanical composition of grassland communities, driven by climate change, land management practices, and socio-economic factors in agriculture. The current study aims to assess the condition of permanent grasslands in Bulgaria through the integration of data from the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAF), the Executive Forest Agency (EFA), Eurostat, as well as results from scientific publications related to productivity, species diversity, and forage quality of grass stands. The results indicate a trend towards relative stabilization of the total area of permanent grasslands after 2020, accompanied by pronounced regional differentiation in terms of productivity and forage quality. A decrease in the proportion of highly productive grass species has been observed at the expense of more drought-tolerant but lower-yielding species, which is associated with increasing climate risk. The analysis demonstrates a significant relationship between botanical composition and dry matter yield, as well as the importance of persistent and resilient grass mixtures for stabilizing productivity. The obtained results confirm the importance of sustainable management of grassland ecosystems, including optimization of stocking rates, implementation of appropriate agronomic practices, and the use of adapted grass varieties.
Keywords: permanent grasslands, pastures, meadows, productivity, botanical composition, forage value, sustainable management, Bulgaria