Shafagh Rastegar; Neda Riahi; Mohammadreza Tatian; Maedeh Ghorbanpour Delivand
Volume 30, Issue 3 , January 2024, , Pages 362-380
Abstract
Background and objectivesRangelands provides a wide range of products and services to local communities. In the discussion of rangeland management, it is necessary to note that the monoculture economy is fragile. As long as only attention is paid to rangeland forage for livestock feeding, the users' ...
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Background and objectivesRangelands provides a wide range of products and services to local communities. In the discussion of rangeland management, it is necessary to note that the monoculture economy is fragile. As long as only attention is paid to rangeland forage for livestock feeding, the users' economy will be very shaky and fragile. Therefore, increasing income, economic stability of rangeland users, creating employment, and sustainable development require multipurpose management and utilization of existing resources. The present research evaluates the relative advantage of various exploitation methods of local communities in the summer rangelands of Hazarjarib Behshahr during 2018-2019. MethodologyIn terms of purpose, the research is applied, and regarding the research method, it is classified as descriptive-survey research. It is also a quantitative study, given the nature of the data. The statistical population included all users of the customary summer rangelands of Boznesam, Tirperu, Hashtpader, Mianband, Hajikord, Sefidkhani, Siahkhani, Zereshki, and Shaharam. The research tool is a researcher-made questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. Its reliability was calculated between 0.78 and 0.86 for different components based on Cronbach's Alpha formula. Using the census method, 85 people were distributed. After collecting the data and analyzing the questionnaires, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, T-test, and LSD were applied in SPSS software version 24 to answer the research hypotheses. Therefore, a questionnaire was developed in several sections. The first part was related to demographic information, and the second was related to the cost and income of each of the main rangeland users, including animal husbandry, beekeeping, agronomy, medicinal plants, and integrated (multi-purpose) operations. The validity of the questionnaire content was determined using the formal validation method and consulting experts. The priority of usefulness of single subsistence activities and other multi-purpose exploitations was determined using analysis of the income-cost ratio (B/C). ResultsThe results showed that the highest and lowest annual net income from livestock and medicinal plant activities was estimated at 191.1 and 2.3 million Tomans per household (user), respectively. The highest and lowest net profits in multi-activity were estimated at 29.7 and 6.9 million Tomans per household (user), respectively, related to the activities of agronomy-livestock-medicinal plants and agronomy-medicinal plants. The ratio of B/C of all livelihood activities is more than one and economical. In single livelihood activities, beekeeping, with a ratio of 3.7, and multiple livelihoods, agronomy-medicinal plants, with a ratio of 3.1, have the highest income generated about the share of livelihood resources compared to other exploitations. The results showed that livelihood diversity could generate more income for users. The analysis of the annual net income share of mono-livelihood and multi-livelihood operations as a percentage of the total income of the livelihood resources of the operators in the region showed that in the case of optimal use and better management of animal husbandry along with the sub-operations of beekeeping, medicinal plants, and agronomy can provide good income and employment among people. Statistics have rejected the assumption that single-subsistence and multi-subsistence exploitations have the same income. ConclusionBeekeeping and agronomy are among the potential exploitations of the studied rangelands. These exploitations can be combined with livestock farming to compensate for livestock farming shortcomings, both to prevent livestock pressure on rangelands and to increase local communities' income. Therefore, by implementing combined rangeland projects, it is possible to maintain and restore rangelands and increase income for local beneficiaries. Because for many years, the use of rangelands in the study area has been single-purpose and only for providing animal fodder, multi-purpose use according to the capacities of each rangeland can bring many benefits to the users. Also, the high benefit-to-cost ratio of beekeeping can be a strategy for the employment of more people in the region after animal husbandry, to prevent pressure on the rangelands by animal husbandry, and to increase the income of local communities.
mashaallah mohammadpour; Mohammadreza Tatian; Reza Tamartash; Jafar Hoseinzadeh
Volume 28, Issue 1 , April 2021, , Pages 34-54
Abstract
Rangelands beneath the forests of Dalab in the northwest of Ilam are grazed from May to November. To investigate the grazing behavior and determine the dependence of livestock on forage resources, three goats and three Kurdish sheep were randomly selected from three herds in the ...
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Rangelands beneath the forests of Dalab in the northwest of Ilam are grazed from May to November. To investigate the grazing behavior and determine the dependence of livestock on forage resources, three goats and three Kurdish sheep were randomly selected from three herds in the area, and by installing a GPS device on them, information on the distance and movement time of livestock were recorded every month. Maps of geological formation, slope, altitude, land use, and landform were prepared, and monthly GPS information was combined with the maps. The evaluation of forage production was carried out in 27 plots of forest floor and 25 samples of trees and shrubs. The results showed that the goat had an average daily mobility of 7.7 km and a distance of 2.6 km for grazing; but these figures for sheep are 7.8 and 1.9 km, respectively. It was also found that goats were more present in the altitude of 1400 to 1500 m and sheep in the elevation of 1300 to 1400 m. Livestock were more prone to grazing on the forest floor, and they preferred slopes of less than 30%, hill form, and Pabdeh geological formation. Comparison of grazing, moving, and stopping times showed no difference between the types of grazing in terms of grazing behavior, but there were differences between the types of activity (movement, stopping, and grazing) in different months. Examination of the grazing behavior of the livestock using video recording revealed that the livestock spent about 33 to 36 minutes on grazing, three to five minutes on stopping, and 12 to 14 minutes on grazing without movement. Finally, it was found that about 50% of the relative forage production was from forest floor grasses, 34% forest trees, and 10% sub-forest farms; therefore, livestock ration dependence on forest floor grasses is about 61 %, forest trees 25 %, and forest floor farms 7 %.
Seyed Mahdi Adnani; Mohammad Reza Tatian; Ehsan Zandi Esfahan; Reza Tamartash; Hosein Bagheri
Volume 27, Issue 2 , June 2020, , Pages 215-223
Abstract
Important and influential factors on livestock production in arid areas are limited water resources, increasing salinity and lack of food. Halophytes are especially important in saline habitats as alternative forage sources. Forage quality is one of the main factors determining the nutritional requirements ...
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Important and influential factors on livestock production in arid areas are limited water resources, increasing salinity and lack of food. Halophytes are especially important in saline habitats as alternative forage sources. Forage quality is one of the main factors determining the nutritional requirements of livestock and subsequently the grazing capacity of rangelands. Determination of forage quality of rangeland species is one of the fundamental factors for proper rangeland management. The quality of forage varies in different places and times and different factors affect it. Awareness of forage quality of halophytes at each phenological stage, not only helps beneficiaries in arid and desert areas to select suitable plant species for planting in haloculture programs, but also sets the appropriate time for grazing to achieve greater livestock performance in saline lands. In the present study, the effects of phenological stages on eight forage quality traits were investigated for three halophytes ie., Halocnemum strobilaceum, Nitraria schoberi and Suaeda aegyptiaca. Plant samples were collected in vegetative, flowering, and seeding stages from saline lands in the margin of Houze Sultan, Qom province. Data were analyzed by a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design. Duncan mean comparison test was performed. The results showed that the effects of species and phenological stages on forage quality were significant (p < /em><0.01). In general, the results of this study indicated the superiority of Ha. strobilaceum in terms of nutritional value compared to Ni. schoberi and Su. aegyptiaca, so that it can be considered as a new source of forage in the lands affected by salinity.
Farhad Borna; Reza Tamartash; Mohammad Reza Tatian; Vahid Gholami
Volume 27, Issue 1 , April 2020, , Pages 98-111
Abstract
The Identification of the affecting factors for establishment of native vegetation in area can help to manage rangelands correctly. Desirable habitat will have a significant impact on the survival and reproduction of species. The development of science of statistics and geographic information systems ...
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The Identification of the affecting factors for establishment of native vegetation in area can help to manage rangelands correctly. Desirable habitat will have a significant impact on the survival and reproduction of species. The development of science of statistics and geographic information systems has been made to determine of the habitat prediction of plant species using modeling approaches. So, this study has been done by the purpose of prediction of habitat Artemisia aucheri map using Ecological Niche Factor Analysis in summer rangelands of Balade, Nour city in the Mazandaran province. For achieving to this purpose, the map of environmental variables (physiographic, soil and climate parameters), was prepared after sampling soil profiles and collecting climate variables information from the meteorological organization of Mazandaran province and physiographic maps, via GIS techniques in cell size of 10 x 10. Also; 30 sites were recorded as the presence of species with sampling classified – random. Ecological niche factor analysis counted as a profile model and it is one of the most frequently used techniques to generate species distribution map which uses species “presence-only” data. According to this results A.m.p, Aspect, Ec, TNV were used as influential environmental variables. Also, the evaluation of the model indicates a high accuracy model of the Ecological Niche Factor Analysis of the Artemisia aucheri by using Boyce index in the study area. Furthermore, the results of this study showed that Artemisia aucheri has sort of limited study area and tends to live in its own special habitat conditions.
Rostam Khalifezadeh; Reza Tamartash; Mohammadreza Tatian; Mohammadreza Sarajian Maralan
Volume 25, Issue 3 , November 2018, , Pages 699-712
Abstract
Organic carbon is one of the most important soil quality indices, affecting almost all physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. The purpose of this study was to investigate soil spectral and morphometric factors to estimate the organic carbon of topsoil, using factor analysis ...
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Organic carbon is one of the most important soil quality indices, affecting almost all physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. The purpose of this study was to investigate soil spectral and morphometric factors to estimate the organic carbon of topsoil, using factor analysis and multiple regression methods in semi-steppe rangelands of Lazour. Soil samples were taken with a stratified random method. For this purpose, 157 training sites were selected in homogeneous units. Of these, 127 sites were used to calibrate the model and 30 sites were used to validate the model. In each of the training site in a random manner, a soil sample including nine observations was taken from a depth of 0 to 20 cm of soil surface. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) was measured using Walkley-Black titration method. The results showed that the variables of Albedo, Clay Index (CI), NDVI, Relative Relief and Tasseled-Cap's Brightness and Greenness indices had a significant correlation with the SOC (p<0.05). Also, the result of factor analysis by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method with eigen-values greater than one indicated that the total cumulative variance, explained by the six variables, was equal to 81.1%.This variance was explained by two components. Using multiple regression model, an appropriate regression equation was calculated to predict SOC (R2=0.789). The Root Mean Square Error and the Mean Absolute Relative Error of the proposed model were calculated as 0.24 and 0.10, respectively. Due to the direct relationship between the SOC and the factors such as soil fertility and sustainability against erosion, a spatial distribution model of SOC could be an important sub-model to design other complex models such as the terrestrial ecosystems biomass and soil erosion models.
Hamzeh Ali Shirmardi; Atosa Mojiri; Mostafa Saeedfar; Mohamadreza Tatian; Parviz Gholami
Volume 23, Issue 1 , June 2016, , Pages 138-149
Abstract
Livestock grazing can lead to changes in plant composition. In this study, the effect of four grazing intensities including heavy, moderate, light and no grazing (exclosure) were studied on vegetation indices in order to improve management practices and proper planning for sustainable use of rangelands ...
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Livestock grazing can lead to changes in plant composition. In this study, the effect of four grazing intensities including heavy, moderate, light and no grazing (exclosure) were studied on vegetation indices in order to improve management practices and proper planning for sustainable use of rangelands in Karsanak and Bardeh area in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari province of Iran. Therefore, vegetation sampling was done to record canopy cover percentage and vegetation composition under four grazing intensities. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, t-test,andordination method (CCA) to assess vegetation changes under different grazing intensities. Results showed that plant species such as Agropyron repens, Bromus tomentellus, Astragalus effuses and Poa bulbosa were more found in exclosure and light grazing area.The major species found in heavy grazing area were Boissiera squarrosa, Echinops leiopolyceras, Sisymbrium irio and Euphorbia heteradenia. Due to the vegetation damage and reduction of palatable species, a moderate grazing is recommended in the study rangeland.
Reza Tamartash; Gholamreza Tatian; Bahjat Reihani; Fatemeh Shokrian
Volume 16, Issue 4 , January 2010, , Pages 481-492
Abstract
Investigation on vegetation and soil charactristics of marl lands is important in management programs.The study area was Birjand plain. First, geomorphplogical units were identified using topographic, land usability, lithology maps and aerial photoes. After field controlling, sampling was done on homogenic ...
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Investigation on vegetation and soil charactristics of marl lands is important in management programs.The study area was Birjand plain. First, geomorphplogical units were identified using topographic, land usability, lithology maps and aerial photoes. After field controlling, sampling was done on homogenic units by systematic-randomized method. Size and number of plots were determined by minimal area and statistical methods respectively. Vegetation and soil samples were taken in each plot. Soil parameters such as texture, pH, EC, SAR, lime and gypsum were measuered in the laboratory. Differences between plant communities and reaction to soil variations were determined by analysis of variance and CCA using SPSS and Canoco 4.0 softwares. Results showed that the different plant communities had different reactions to soil charactristics. Suaeda fruticosa, Chenopodium album, Salsola rigida and Aellenia glauca had the highest correlation with SAR but Salsola rigida and Aellenia glauca shown high correlation with EC, silt and gypsum amount. Also, entrance of invador species (Cousinia eryngium) caused to low reaction of plant communities to edaphic factors. Other species had negative reaction to soil salinity and none of them responsed to pH.