Author/Authors :
GÖKKUŞ, Ahmet Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi - Ziraat Fakültesi - Tarla Bitkileri Bölümü, Turkey , ÖZASLAN PARLAK, Altıngül Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi - Ziraat Fakültesi - Tarla Bitkileri Bölümü, Turkey , PARLAK, Mehmet Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi - Lapseki Meslek Yüksekokulu, Turkey
Abstract :
Shrubs are common vegetation over the Mediterranean zone and goats graze the most over these areas. Since animals meet their nutritional needs from the plants they grazed, variation in micro-nutrient contents of shrubs throughout the year was investigated in this study. The research was carried out over ungrazed and grazed maquis rangelands of Çanakkale (Turkey) between the dates October 2006 and November 2007. Monthly variations in Fe, Mn, Cu, B, Na and Zn contents of kermes oak, mock privet, prickly juniper, gall oak, Christ’s-thorn, pink rockrose, thyme and prickly burnet shrubs were investigated in experiments. Except for variations of Zn in gall oak, Na in pink rockrose and thyme, monthly variations of the other nutrients in shrubs were found to be significant. In general, variation of micro nutrients had different trends in different shrubs, but only Cu had the same trend in all shrubs (high at the beginning of spring and decreased with maturation). Fe, Cu and Na contents of shrubs were found to be sufficient for all periods for goats grazing over these areas and Zn was found to be insufficient Results revealed that shrubs considered in this study did not have deficiencies for micro-nutrients during the growing season. However, deficiency of Zn should be eliminated by additional mineral supplement just to meet at least the maintenance requirements of the goats.
