Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Depatrment of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of natural resources and environment, Malayer university, Hamadan,Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Depatrment of Natural resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Razi university, Kermanshah,Iran

3 Assosiate Professor, Depatrment of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of natural resources and environment, Malayer university, Hamadan,Iran

4 M.Sc. Postgraduated of Range Management, Depatrment of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of natural resources and environment, Malayer university, Hamadan,Iran

Abstract

Land use change, land abandonment, overgrazing, expansion and spread of exotic species are of the most important challenges in the rangelands of the country. For this reason, in this research, it has been attempted to address the challenges by presenting a single improvement solution. Therefore, the perennial rainfedd alfalfa was used for cultivation in degraded rangelands or abandoned lands for both goals of rangeland reclamation and carbon sequestration. Three rangelands were studied in the protected area of Lashgardar-Malayer reclaimed rangeland via alfalfa, medium grazing, and degraded rangelands. In each of these rangelands, sites were selected for sampling. The size and number of plots were determined by the minimal area and statistical method. In each plot, the aboveground and underground biomass and litter were collected. Soil sampling was performed in the plots and the measurement of carbon sequestration was conducted in the laboratory. Soil samples were collected from two layers of 0-15 and 15-30 cm and their carbon was measured. The three study rangelands were compared using a One-Way ANOVA analysis, and the results showed that the amount of carbon sequestration in the rangeland reclaimed  with perennial rainfed alfalfa (36.8 ton / ha) after 4 years was around 1.25 fold higher than the medium grazing rangeland (29.27 ton / ha) and 1.71 fold as compared with the degraded rangeland (21.54 ton / ha). These results indicate that reclamation of degraded rangelands causes to achieve land conservation goals and increase the ability of the ecosystem for carbon sequestration.

Keywords

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