Journal of Rangeland Science
Volume:13 Issue: 4, Autumn 2023

This study was conducted to prepare a map of multi-hazard (drought, fire, and flood) to manage the rangelands of the Siah Bisheh watershed located in the west of Mazandaran province, Iran, Iran from 2017 to 2018. For drought assessment, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was used using the rainfall data of 21 meteorological stations for a period of 30 years. The multi-criteria decision-making method was used to weigh the existing layers and prepare the fire risk map. The results of the drought investigation showed that the study area was in a severe to moderate drought range with an SPI of -2.14 to -0.76, and most of the adjacent areas were also in the normal and near normal drought class. The vegetation types Bromus tomentolus-Festuca ovina and Festuca ovina-Bromus tomentolus were observed in the areas with higher drought susceptibility. The fire investigation showed that distance from the village (0.249), litter (0.166), and rainfall (0.151) were the most effective factors than others, respectively. The fire risk map showed that the northern part of the study area was highly susceptible to fire. Moreover, the rangeland of the study area was not affected by flood risk, and only the areas around the river were affected by floods. The results of the drought, fire, and flood risk maps of the study area showed that the central and northern parts of the watershed were of high and very high susceptibility in terms of multi-hazards. Based on the results obtained from flood modelling using the frequency ratio method, it was determined that this method had an efficiency of 0.98 based on receiver operating characteristic criteria. To determine the final risk map of the Siah Bisheh sub-basin, the drought, fire, and flood risk maps were consolidated. According to the final risk map, generally, the central and northern parts of the basin showed high and very high susceptibility in terms of multi-hazards. This research is useful in areas such as Iran and saves time and cost on studies.

Assessment of Range Management Plans (RMP) enables policy makers and governmental planners to understand their impact from different environmental, social, human, and economic aspects in order to improve future planning. The purpose of the present study was to explore the effective variables on RMP in Middle Zagros Mountain in Lorestan, Ilam, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah provinces, Iran in 2018. Data were collected using a structured interview technique and questionnaires (N=140) prepared in 6 sections and filled by rangeland experts of local offices of natural resources in four provinces. Seven factors were asked about weaknesses of range plans and 6 factors were asked for strengths of the plans. Result of the logistic unit (Logit regression) showed that the variables of lack of government credits (p≤0.01) and lack of continuous monitoring on the proper implementation of the project (p≤ 0.10) were negative while the variables of users’ participation in the implementation of RMP (p≤ 0.01) and specifying customary system for herders (p≤ 0.01), controlling herders’ grazing license (p≤ 0.10), the rate of acceptance of the rural municipality, Implementation of modifying and rehabilitation operations, establishing livestock and rangeland balance (p≤ 0.05), Intersection cooperation between the involved institutions and departments (p≤0.01) and rural council the range management projects (p≤ 0.05) were positively significant from the perspective of the experts. Also, 47% of experts were against renting rangeland to nomadic and non-rural nomad herders. They also suggested the implementation of RMP could be done in the divided rangelands rather than common form. In sum, the available projects and plans in the region under study area were not efficient due to technical, social, and economic problems. Hence, they need to be reviewed in this regard. It should be attempted to take into consideration the technical, social, and economic issues more seriously while preparing new projects.

Fire occurrence may lead to a significant impact in many terrestrial ecosystems. This basin scale study attempted to evaluate the effects of fire on the water balance components in the Central Zagros, Iran in 2019. Two modeling frameworks including WetSpass-M spatial model and Bayesian Belief Networks were used to investigate the effect of fire on the amount of runoff, groundwater recharge and evapotranspiration. The first part of the study was water balance simulation at a monthly scale. In addition, the Bayesian belief networks were applied to explore and understand key issues effect on water balance after the fire. Calibration and validation of the WetSpass-M model were performed without considering the effect of fire (2000-2014) and then, the model was run again for the fire scenario by reducing manning roughness coefficient and increasing the θ coefficient. Subsequently, the water balance components of each class, i.e. sparse forest, sparse, semi- dense and dense rangelands were calculated. The percentage of changes in the water balance components was used for comparison. Calibration and validation were performed before finalizing the simulation. A Nash-Sutcliff coefficient of 0.61 and 0.58 was obtained during the calibration and validation, respectively. The analysis of the water balance components results depicted that fire had increased the amount of runoff (13.5%) and it has reduced the amount of groundwater recharge (2.52%) and reduced the amount of actual evaporation (4.45%). The highest increase in runoff belonged to the sparse forest (15.8%), followed by dense (14.5%), semi- dense (13.7%) and sparse rangelands (12.5%), respectively. The results showed that runoff acts as the major factor affecting soil water balance (50.36%) followed by land use (10.49%), and infiltration (10.12%).

The genus Onobrychis Mill. comprises a few agronomically important forage legume species, with Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) being the most widespread. There are few studies on the dormancy pattern of Onobrychis wild species. This investigation was conducted to evaluate inter-specific variation for germination and seedling properties and evaluation of breaking seed dormancy in different species of Onobrychis during 2017. The treatments were control (seeds with pods were germinated in petri dishes immersed in distilled water), mechanical scarification, chilling, seedbed and chemical scarification. Seeds in the control treatment showed very low germination, ranging from 0% to 10% among species. In comparison, between physical treatments, seed pod removal significantly (P<0.01) increased germination percentage and germination rate in all species. Germination percentages of seed pod removal treatment ranged from 50% (in O. vassilczenkoi and O. inermis) to 92.0% (in O. persica). The results indicate that the application of acid scarification treatment depends on species and duration of application of acid. Acid scarification for 7 minutes resulted in the increase in germination percentage and germination rate of O. caput-galli, O. inermis, O. vassilczenkoi and O. persica (P<0.01). Whereas application of sulfuric acid for 15 minutes increased germination in O. montana, O. caput-galli, O. argyrea and O. arenaria much more than other treatments (P<0.01). Chilling treatments had no significant effects on germination. Overall, results indicated that there was high variation among the different species of Onobrychis which is important for the improvement of seed germination in future programs for seed germination approaches. Based on the results, it can be suggested that sowing in peat and seed pod removal treatments can be the most effective methods in the germination of sainfoin species.

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of various Brachiaria grass species. The study compared 10 Brachiaria grass species over 2019 and 2020 years. The experiment was laid down in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. To assess their potential, plant height, tiller number, leaves number per plant, leaf length, forage fresh yield, forage Dry Matter (DM) yield, Leaf to Stem Ratio (LSR), Organic Matter (OM) ash, Crude Protein (CP), Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) and Acid Detergent Lignin (ADL) and CP yield were collected. Data were analysed of variance, and when the difference was significant, the treatment means were compared by the LSD at 5%. Result showed significant differences between Brachiaria species/accessions for forage yield, all quality and morphological traits except tiller number. The finding revealed that as. B. mutica had significantly (P<0.05) higher mean values for plant height, leaves number per plant and leaves length, fresh and dry biomass yield than other species. Species B. brizantha wild. Acc no 13726 had significantly higher man value for LSR (8.70) (P<0.05). The observed fluctuation in biomass yield in different cuts indicated the need for fertilizer application at minimal at a point where lower biomass yield was recorded. The higher forage production with average values of 11.31 and 11.77 t h-1) was obtained in species Brachiaria mutica at cut 1 and 3, respectively that was significantly higher than other cuts (P<0.05). Relatively higher mean values of OM% (ranged 82.22 to 84.39%) were achieved with species B. brizantha wild. Acc no 13726 and Acc no 13755 and Brachiaria mutica. The highest ash contents (ranged from 11.96 to 13.60%) were also obtained in Brachiaria hybrid Mulato I, II, B. brizantha Marandu Acc no. 16550, Brachiaria hybrid Mulato and Brachiaria decumbens. Remarkable CP% (10.85%) was attained at B. mutica. For all Brachiaria grass species, fiber fractions were below the threshold. B. mutica was found efficient in CP yield (3.65 t h-1). Total CP yield with less fiber content per hectare taking as an ultimate objective of forage production species B. mutica was found the most suitable for presenting feed of better quality.

Rangeland plants provide most of the nutritional requirements of small ruminants in Iran. Data about the nutritional value of some range plants are scarce. Hence, we investigated the nutritional characteristics of four range plants (Pulicaria gnaphalodes, Amaranthus blitoides, Heliotropium europaeum, and Solanum nigrum) through different laboratory analyses. In 2021, twenty samples of each plant species were randomly collected in the flowering stage from mountain pastures of Torbat-e Jam, Iran. We observed different ranges of dry matter (15.98–45.23 %), crude protein (8.59–23.31 %), ether extract (1.88–4.5 %), neutral detergent fiber (31.52–64.71 %), acid detergent fiber (26.97–47.05 %), ash (6.09–16.06 %), and non-fiber carbohydrates contents (13.99–31.55 %) among the range plants species. The mineral compounds including calcium (33.28 g/kg DM), phosphorus (2.28 g/kg DM), magnesium (13.61 g/kg DM), potassium (25.83 g/kg DM), iron (501.89 mg/kg DM), and manganese (35.70 mg/kg DM) were the highest in H. europaeum, P. gnaphalodes, H. europaeum, S. nigrum, H. europaeum, and S. nigrum, respectively. Solanum nigrum exhibited the lowest potential gas production (23.50 ml/200 mg DM). P. gnaphalodes and A. blitoides had the highest values of mtabolizable energy (6.89 and 6.77 MJ/kg DM, respectively). It is concluded that the studied plants can easily supply the maintenance requirements of small ruminants. Based on the present results, it seems that the nutritional value of P. gnaphalodes and A. blitoides was superior to H. europaeum and S. nigrum. Excessive consumption of H. europaeum due to its toxic effects should be done with more caution.

Cultural ecology is a knowledge that examines the cultural aspects of the relationship between human being and its surrounding. In this regard, this study with a qualitative method and a naturalistic approach using a technique that focused on groups and also a profound interview has investigated indigenous ecological knowledge to manage the herds in Olad village, Andika town, Khuzestan province, Iran, 2016. The findings of the study showed that the people living in this village for many years use their local knowledge in order to interact with the surrounding environment, breeding and keeping livestock in various pasture. They also divide the pastures based on recognizing the need in any physiological stage of livestock. In this regard, they acquired ecological memory in the field of livestock identification. They also have acquired indigenous knowledge in all fields, including mating and calving, time management, taking care of lambs, young goats, breastfeeding or milking, and forming the structure and composition of the herds according to the cultural and environmental conditions. They have a pity on the treatment of livestock and culture of collaboration and co-operation in using pastures. Ultimately, the present study confirmed the protective aspects, and economic, social, cultural and indigenous knowledge of villagers in order to express their potential natural resources and also upgrade their development physically and spiritually. It has been stated that indigenous ecological knowledge of herders plays an important role in the stability of land and livestock management and also all natural fields.

The thymus is one of the most important medicinal plants in Lorestan province, Iran. In order to study the effect of plant density on the aerial dry matter (DM) yield and oil production, an experiment was conducted using two native Thyme species (Thymus kotschyanus and T. daenensis) in a split plot design based on a completely randomized block with three replications over four years (from 2016 to 2019) in Zagheh, Lorestan province, Iran. Seeds were sown in pots in the greenhouse, then seedling transferred to the field in seven-leaf stage in April 2016. The distance between the rows were 5 cm and between plants within the row were 25, 35, and 50 cm. This distance was corresponded to the density of 4, 6 and 8 plants/m2. Plant essential oils were extracted using Clevenger apparatus and their compounds were identified in GC-MS analysis. Data were analyzed using split plot in time and years were considered as subplots. Results of ANOVA showed significant differences between years, species and species by year interaction for many traits (p<0.05). The effect of density was significant for canopy diameter and stem number (p<0.05). Higher DM yield (2761.7 and 3332.5 Kg.h-1) and essential oil yield (44.83 and 75.28 Kg.h-1) were obtained in T. kotschyanus and T. daenensis, respectively, in the third year of study. So, essential oil production increased in T. kotschyanus over years, but in T. daenensis, it was increased up to third year, then decreased in the fourth year. In both Thyme species, the higher DM and essential oil yield were obtained in 6 and 8 plants/m² density without significant difference between these two densities. For the main compounds of essential oil, a moderate value of carvacrol (18%) and Thymol (51%) were obtained in T. kotschyanus and a lower value of carvacrol (5%) and higher value of Thymol (78%) were obtained in T. daenensis in the third year of study. Based on the obtained results, the cultivation of both species in density of 6 and 8 plants/m2 was recommended in the rain fed area and rangeland of Lorestan province, Iran.