Assessment of vegetation covers and yield variation in rangelands of Qum province (2000-2005)

Rangelands have important role in economy of country because of providing forage for animals, soil and water conservation and other services giving to society. Therefore their careful management is necessary. To do this, main vegetative stepic regions of Qum province were selected. In each community a key area was determined to establish a permanent site, so eight key areas were selected in the whole province. In each site four parallel, 400 meter transects were established. Canopy cover and yield within 60 quadrates in two square meter areas, along each transect were measured each year. According to the results, Qum's rangelands contain poor vegetation composition with low cover percentage and yield. Desirable species were absent in vegetation composition and moderate and non-desirable species made major part of vegetation cover and yield. Most Qum's rangelands suffer from over grazing and should be recovered by a suitable management program. Results showed significant relationships (P<0.05) between canopy cover and forage yield of studied species during 6 years (1999-2004). However regression models calculated based on correlation between cover and yield varied due to seasonal condition in each year.