Hosein Arzani; Esmaiel Sabri; Javad Moetamedi; Seyed Akbar Javadi
Volume 22, Issue 1 , June 2015, , Pages 158-167
Abstract
Several sheep breeds with different sizes use the rangelands in different climatic regions of West Azerbaijan province. Since these rangelands differ regarding the vegetation and physical characteristics and these differences cause the amount of animals’ mobility to vary, the amount of required ...
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Several sheep breeds with different sizes use the rangelands in different climatic regions of West Azerbaijan province. Since these rangelands differ regarding the vegetation and physical characteristics and these differences cause the amount of animals’ mobility to vary, the amount of required forage for providing their daily metabolic energy at different grazing times would not be the same. Therefore, to organize the animal feeding on the rangeland, mapping the daily requirement of animals grazing on the rangelands of area was necessary. In this regard, at first, the average amount of metabolic energy per unit weight of rangelands grazed by animals at different growth stages in the summer and winter rangelands were identified and then, considering the daily metabolic energy requirement of each sheep breed in maintenance state, the amount of daily required forage was determined, and on the basis of mentioned results, the map of daily animal requirement at different growth stages was provided. According to the obtained results, it was found that the amount of forage providing the daily requirement of sheep breeds in different climatic pastures of the province varied between 1.04 and 2.31kg per day, so that the least amount was related to the forage providing daily requirement of Makui breed (with an average weight of 45.36 kg) at the initial growth stages of summer rangelands in the northern areas of the province, and the highest amount belonged to the forage providing daily requirement of Ghezel breed (with an average weight of 71.57 kg) and the Herki breed (with an average weight of 53.50kg) at the final growth stages (seeding stage) of winter rangelands in the southern areas of the province
Hosein Arzani; Javad Moetamedi; Hasan Yeghaneh; Hamzeh Ali Shirmardi
Volume 21, Issue 2 , August 2014, , Pages 221-233
Abstract
Being informed about the sufficiency of forage required for the daily need of the animal unit grazing on the rangeland is of paramount importance in animal and rangeland management. Therefore, in the current study, 32 important plant species grazed by animals on semi-steppe rangelands of Karsank in Chaharmahal-o-Bakhtiari ...
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Being informed about the sufficiency of forage required for the daily need of the animal unit grazing on the rangeland is of paramount importance in animal and rangeland management. Therefore, in the current study, 32 important plant species grazed by animals on semi-steppe rangelands of Karsank in Chaharmahal-o-Bakhtiari were sampled during three growth stages (vegetative growth, flowering and seeding). During each stage, three samples were taken and three plant bases were cut for each sample. Having measured the percentage of nitrogen (N) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of the studied species, the amount of their crude protein (CP), dry matter digestibility (DMD) and metabolisable energy (ME) were determined to know their critical level for meeting animals’ daily requirements. In order to analyze the data, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used and to observe the within-groups differences Duncan's test was employed. Results showed that the maximum crude protein (23.87%), dry matter digestibility (74.35%) and metabolisable energy (6.73 Mj/Kg/DM) belonged to Bellevalia glauca. The minimum crude protein (9.81%) belonged to Thymus daenensis and the minimum dry matter digestibility (51.38%) and metabolisable energy (6.73 Mj/Kg/DM) were recorded for Asperula molluginoides. The average crude protein for vegetative, flowering and seeding stages were 20.92, 13.03 and 8.89%, respectively, that at all three growth stages, it was higher than its critical level (7.0%) to meet the daily maintenance requirement of an animal unit. Average dry matter digestibility values for the three phenological stages were 62.48, 55.02 and 46.18%, respectively, that its amount was higher than the critical level (50%) for vegetative and flowering stages and was lower than the critical amount at the seeding stage for meeting the daily maintenance requirements of an animal unit. Metabolisable energy in vegetative, flowering and seeding stages were 8.62, 7.35 and 5.85%, respectively, which were higher than the critical level (8Mj) during the vegetative growth and flowering stages and lower than the same critical level at the seeding stage for meeting the daily maintenance requirements of an animal unit. This is an indicator of the fact that desirability of range forage at different grazing times is not the same and it is necessary to determine the daily requirement of animal unit on the basis of forage quality. In general, the studied rangelands are considered to be desirable in terms of supplying required daily crude protein and metabolisable energy for an animal unit. Results presented in this paper are important for livestock and range management in the studied area.