Assessment Of Woody Plant Species Richness And Diversity Of Coffee Forest In Dhidhesa District, Buno Bedelle Zone Oromia Region, Southwest Ethiopia.

Abstract

Woody species in Coffee forestland plays significant indicator for woody plant species investigation. The study conducted to investigate woody species richness, diversity and evenness on Coffee forestland in Dhidhesa district of Buno Bedele zone Oromia regional State. The study cover three-selected kebele (Geshe, Garado, and Gepha) based on the presence of coffee forests, aimed to asses’ woody plant species richness and diversity in coffee forest of Dhidhesa district. It used as reference or clue for farther investigation and contribute to raising public awareness on the value of the woody plant species in the coffee farm field. Purposively three-study kebele selected and Systematic random sampling applied to locate sample quadrat. Systematically Sample quadrat taken from land uses of coffee plantation. Ten sample quadrat from each kebele of coffee plantation land uses was laid at about 100 meters’ distance interval from each other. Along the transect lines, Ten sample quadrat measuring 20 m × 20 m (400 m2) were laid down at 100 m interval from each other and total sample was 30 quadrats with (1200 m2 ) in coffee farm field. A total of 22 trees species belonging to 16 plant families were recorded on the Coffee forest land at study sites. In the study area, the frequency of woody species occurrence on coffee forest recorded. Croton macrostachyus, Cordia africana, Albizia gummifera, Olea africana, Syzygium guineense and Podocarpus falcatus were among the most frequent tree. The results of this study have shown that woody species inventory on coffee forest provided baseline information on existing situation of woody species richness, diversity, evenness, frequency, and basal area. To assess the diversity of woody species on coffee forest across the study sites. In this study, general conclusion was present based on the woody plant species diversity survey of observation in the study area. Raising the amount of woody species diversity in Coffee forest at the study area and encourage awareness of local people in diversifying, conserving and sustainability using of woody plant species of coffee forest should be cared out. Finally, the present study is limited to woody plant species richness, diversity and evenness then further studies on environmental parameters, forest management, land use management system, conservation system, on woody plant species.