Studying the Seasonal Changes of Pproduction and Consumption of Agropyron Trichophorum Species in Lorestan Alpine Rangelands

Our dependence on plants for survival is so strong that its exploitation and management are special sciences. One of the key rangeland species is Agropyron trichophorum. Awareness of its ecological information is of particular importance. The aim of this study was to determine the seasonal changes in production and consumption of Agropyron trichophorum in summer rangelands of Lorestan province.

In this study, production inside the enclosed part and consumption outside it (control), from 2007 to 2010 were investigated. Each year, 50 average rootstocks of the species were identified at the beginning of the growing season and 5 medium rootstocks were selected at the beginning of the season for each month of the grazing season inside the enclosed plot and 5 similar rootstocks outside the grazing area and cut and weighed in each month of the grazing season. Data were analyzed in MSTATC software and the mean was compared with Duncan's multiple range tests.

The difference between the mean effects of year, month and the interaction of year, months are statistically significant (P <0.01). The difference in production in different years was large, so that the forage produced in the year of low production was about 42% of the forage produced in the year of high production. On average, about 80% of the production of this species was used by livestock during the grazing season, which fluctuated between 75% and 87% in the study years.

Production in June, which is the result of plant metabolism in the second half of May and the first half of June, is higher and decreases in July and August. In total, this species produces an average of 149.4 kg / ha of forage, of which 119.8 kg / ha (80.2%) is consumed. In July and August, the pressure of grazing was transferred to the back of the fields; this is due to the presence of forage in the lands near the village, as well as increasing the temperature and reducing water resources in the rangeland.