Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
Rangelands have covered the majority of the continents and 43 percent of the all lands round the world cattle; so, they are very important in production and protection of water resource, soil and plant cover. The vast areas of rangelands of Kurdistan province are grazed by cattle. The main objective of this study was to determine the cattle grazing intensities effect on the soil of Charandoo rangelands which is located 23 km north of Sanandaj. Three different grazing site of: reference (light grazing) ere chosen as the study area. Forage production and physical soil factors such as bulk density, percent of porosity, water content and aggregate stability were measured by standard methods. Ten replications were used in this experiment. The statistical results show that cattle grazing have a significant effect on the plant cover and production. The soil bulk density increased significant with intensive grazing. The water content, percent of porosity and the proportion of the aggregate stability decreased as the result of intensive grazing. The final results indicate that cattle grazing may cause rather big changes on the physical properties of surface soil. As the project region enjoys suitable yearly rainfall, if the intensity of grazing is in a moderate level, the region will be ale to recompense and to make better tolerance the damages arisen from cattle trampling.
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