Rangeland suitability guidelines for sheep grazing (Case study: mountainous rangelands of Imam Kandi Urmia)

Determining the suitability of rangeland using the constraints of the FAO method, due to the multiplicity of factors and in some cases the need for laboratory operations and mapping, is time-consuming and the possibility of its application by all experts, the existence does not have. Therefore, the range classification guidelines for grazing livestock (Manual of Suitability for Animal Grazing; MSAG) in various climatic zones were proposed by the rangeland technical office. According to the proposed guidelines, rangeland suitability for trapping a variety of livestock is achieved by combining the three criteria of vegetation (20 points), water (15 points) and soil erosion (15 points). In order to assess the capability of the mentioned in the semi-arid region, the present study was carried out in the mountain ranges of Imam Kandi Urmia and the results of determining the suitability of plant breed types based on the proposed instruction with the results of the FAO limiting conditions method, by nonparametric test Wilcoxon, was compared. The results showed that in the FAO restrictive conditions, in the 83% of cases, the forage production rate was 46%, soil sensitivity to erosion and in 11%, the water resources criterion, as the criteria for reducing the suitability of plant types. But in the proposed instruction, only soil sensitivity to erosion has reduced the score of the indices and, consequently, the classes of merit. The results indicate that there is no significant difference between the two methods in terms of final suitable classes (P≤0.05), and more than 85% of the rangelands of the region are classified in the same way in two methods. Therefore, the proposed directive is capable of identifying and categorizing susceptible and non-susceptible species in sheep breeding, and its efficiency is significant compared to the FAO restrictive conditions, due to cost savings and simplicity. This instruction will enable the experts to adapt to the use of grazing rangelands when they prepare multi-purpose portfolio projects in a simple and practical way.