بررسي رابطه تركيب پوشش و توليد گياهان با زمان چراي گوسفند و بز به منظور مديريت بهينه مراتع (بررسي موردي: مراتع كرسنك استان چهارمحال و بختياري)

Investigation of Relationship between Cover and Aboveground Standing Crop of Plants with Sheep and Goat Grazing for Proper Rangeland Management (Case Study: Karsanak Rangelands, Chaharmahal-Va-Bakhtiari province)

Choosing the type, age, structure and ratio of grazing livestock: is a primary decision in rangeland management. To find out the relationship between plant composition with sheep and goat grazing time, two plant attributes of canopy cover and forage yield were estimated in this study. On the other hand, grazing time of sheep and goat were determined using video recording method. The relation between plant composition (based on canopy cover and forage yield) as the independent variable in the field were regressed against the grazing time of sheep and goat (dependent variables). The results indicated no significant difference (P< 0.05) between grazing time of sheep and rangeland plant composition (not only based on canopy cover but also forage yield). Therefore, we can conclude that sheep is selective because do not graze based on frequency of plants in the field. A significant relation (P< 0.01) was also found between grazing time of goat and rangeland plant composition (not only based on canopy cover but also forage yield). Hence, we concluded that goat is not selective due to the fact that goats grazed plants in proportion to their forage yield and canopy cover in the field. So, the optimum grazing can be achieved by common grazing of goat and sheep owing to different grazing time of plant life-forms and plant species.