Investigating the changes in biomass of the medical species of Ziziphora clinopodioides in Urmia-Garebagh rangelands

Each of the rangeland species has certain production during the months of grazing and different years. In addition, the grazing livestock consumes certain amounts of forage during each period of the grazing season and different years which varies depending on the conditions and different races. Rangeland and livestock management would not be feasible without understanding the production characteristics of plants and the amount of forage intake during the grazing period. In an attempt to investigate the vegetative and productive characteristics and the consumption rate of Ziziphora clinopodioides forage by the livestock at different stages of phenology, the present experiment was carried out during four years in Urmia-Garebagh rangelands. With the beginning of the grazing season and the entering of livestock into the rangeland, the remaining forage from the graze was harvested, at one-month intervals, until the livestock left the rangeland. The consumption rate was determined by subtracting the amounts of the harvested forage from the fenced plot forage. To explore the effect of study years as well as the harvest months on the production and consumption of the species under analysis, the obtained data were analyzed. The results of ANOVA combined variance analysis indicated that there was a significant difference between the months under analysis and that the highest amount of production and consumption occurred in the fourth year. However, the consumption rate of forage in second month was the highest throughout the grazing season. Generally speaking, it can be claimed that the temperature and rainfall are two significant factors in the amount of production and consumptions of this species.