The Effects of Livestock Grazing on Biomass Variation and Reproduction of Festuca ovina L. and Alupecurus textilis Boiss. at the Rangelands of Alvares Ski Resort in Southeast of Sabalan

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 Graduated MSc. of Range Management at the Department of Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

3 Assistance Professor, Department of Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, at the Department of Range & Watershed Management, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different grazing intensity on biomass variation and reproductive effort of Festuca ovina L. and Alupecurus textilis Boiss. Three grazing intensity (light, medium and heavy) using the 4-factor method were determined. In each site, 3 transects with 50 meters long randomly were established and on each transect 10 bunch of species were selected and aboveground and underground sampling at the time of flowering stage was sampled. After separation of reproductive and vegetative organs and weighing the dry matter in both species, data for evaluating the reaction of plants against grazing and comparison sites to dry matter to different organs in the studied species, one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's test were analyzed using SPSS16 software. The results show that different intensities of grazing onthe total biomass and weight (stems, leaves, roots, inflorescences, biomass) and length (root, inflorescence and aerial height) have significant effect (P<0.01). The results of the regression equation between the total weight and the weight of inflorescences dry matter showed that by reducing the total weight of the species under the grazing, the weight of inflorescence is also reduced and there are correlations between them. Reproductive effort(percentinflorescence dry weight ratio to the aboveground biomass)was also has increased by the increase of grazing intensity. In F. ovina species, inflorescences weights were obtained 2.38, 1.91 and 0.99 grper square meter for light, medium and heavy grazing, and in A. textilis species were 3.15, 2.58 and 1.53 per square meter as the same as, respectively. Percent of reproductive effort were obtained 16.93, 19.77 and 20.24 for light, medium, and heavy grazing in F. ovina and in the A. textilis species were 16.93, 17.74 and 18.56 as the same as, respectively. Thus, two species under the heavy grazing intensity have the highest reproductive efforts and they allocate more their resource to sexual reproduction.

Keywords

References

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History

  • Receive Date: 20 April 2013
  • Revise Date: 17 March 2014
  • Accept Date: 20 June 2014

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