Journal of Rangeland Science
Volume:10 Issue: 3, Summer 2020

Lycium depressum L. is the only native tree-like life-form species inhabited in saline and alkaline regions of Turkmen Sahra located at Golestan province in Northern Iran. During past years, efforts have been made to increase vegetation cover of the area by cultivation of L. depressum L. to reduce water and wind erosions and dust storm challenges; however, the cultivation of this species has not been quite successful. Regarding the importance role of L. depressum in the ecosystem, a greenhouse experiment was conducted in January 2018 with different levels of salinity and drought stresses. Salinity stress (control (4 dS/m), 14, 24, 34 and 44 dS/m) applying NaCl solution and drought stress (control (0), 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1 MP) applying PEG 8000 as well as their combinations were conducted on plant cuttings (clones) using factorial experiment and Response Surface Method (RSM). Data were collected for leaf number (LN), root length (RL) and plant height (PH). Through the findings, it was concluded that drought stress had higher negative effect on plant function than salinity stress which dramatically reduced LN, RL and PH parameters (P<0.05). It was also inferred that combined treatments had higher negative effects on plant function than the individual treatments. Additionally, the result showed a significant difference between aerial organs and underground organs with regard to the severity of being affected by salinity and drought stresses so that LN and PH were highly affected comparing with RL. Generally, we observed that higher levels of salinity (higher than 30 dS/m) and drought (higher than 0.25 MP) will adversely affect the growth of plant organs leading to reduction of plant yield; even in some cases, it causes the plant total death. Finally, it was concluded that L. depressum is highly affected by drought rather than salinity.

One of the fundamental difficulties in Iranian rangelands is the existence of wide area of poor condition rangelands that their grazing capability is low due to continuous livestock grazing pressure. Astragalus flexilipes is one of the palatable plant species of rangelands in Iran, while its distribution is being decreased due to improper grazing. The aim of this study was to evaluation the sowing season and cultivation methods of Astragalus flexilipes in dryland farming using split plot design based on completely randomized block with three replications in Meleh-Kabud, Gahvareh, Kermanshah, Iran over two years of 2016-17. The first factor was sowing seasons (spring and autumn) and the second one was cultivation methods (row sowing and scatter sowing). Data were collected for seedling emergence, survivor rate and growth condition in the second year. Result showed significant effect of cultivation method on seedling emergence and survival rate and significant effect of sowing date on growth condition (P<0.01). The sowing date by cultivation method interaction was significant for seedling emergence and survival rate (p<0.05). The highest values of the latter traits were obtained in spring season coupled with row cultivation method. In autumn sowing the highest growth scores of 3.74 and 3.15 (out of 5) for row sowing and scatter sowing, respectively. It was concluded that the highest establishment was achieved in spring cultivation, but the vigorous plants was observed in the autumn cultivation. Thus, early spring cultivation of Astragalus flexilipes using row-sowing method was recommended for rehabilitation of the poor condition rangeland in similar climate area having relatively lower temperature.

Bush encroachment leads to land degradation in semiarid to arid regions. Over 45 million hectares of agricultural land in Namibia are affected. This is worrisome as nearly 70% of the Namibian population depends on agricultural activities and the beef industry is the mainstay of the farming communities. This study employed secondary data sources to provide a review of the problems and benefits of bush encroachment in Namibia. The phenomenon has led to decreased biodiversity, degradation of the functions and structures of ecological ecosystems, lowering the grasslands’ carrying capacity, displacement of wildlife, as well as impacting groundwater recharge. Encroachers include species such as Senegalia erubescens, Senegalia fleckii, Vachellia nilotica, Vachellia luederitzii, Vachellia reficiens, Colophospermum mopane, Rhigozum trichotomum, Terminalia prunioides, Terminalia sericea, Senegalia mellifera and Dichrostachys cinerea. In 2018, the beef industry made at least US$ 184 million dollars. This amount could have been more, if the carrying capacity of the grazing lands was not reduced. On the other hand, the encroachers offer extra income from de-bushed wood material, including income from charcoal industry, which currently flourishing. Namibia is presently one of the main charcoal exporters and made close to US$34 million during the year 2018, putting the country on a first 1st position in Africa and 11th position worldwide. This brings a dilemma in managing the encroachers, as to whether to eliminate them and improve the grasslands or to allow them to grow for other benefits. The study concludes that while trying to improve the ecosystems by de-bushing, managing de-bushing needs to be sustainable. There is also a need for research to largely focus on evaluating the trade-offs between the problem and opportunities.

Nigeria is one of the most malnourished and hunger ridden in the league of developing countries; according to reports of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of United Nations estimated daily animal protein intake for developing countries averaged at 4.5 g/head/day at the beginning of this century which has hardly risen to 10 g/head/day into the second decade of the century in Nigeria. This calls for an increase in the supply of animal protein to address the poor intake, but Nigeria’s animal protein supply depends on pastoral livestock production on extensive natural grassland. This production system is under challenges of climate and poor production techniques; hence government effort towards improvement via the establishment of grazing reserves is a way out. Therefore, this paper discusses Nigerian livestock production, climate change effects on Nigeria livestock production and its social implications, including food insecurity. We also consider sources of ethnoreligious violence linked to livestock production in Nigeria, grazing reserve bills (proposed legislation) in Nigeria the proponents, the opponents and what are the pitfalls the rationale for modification and re-introduction of grazing reserves bill in Nigeria and the potential of some models such as the Taylor Grazing Reserve Act of the United States of America.

Regardless the crop production, range and livestock management is unlikely to be possible. Considering the range production is essential for efficient and effective range management. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the rate of forage production and the effects of climate variables. For this purpose, forage yield of four range species including Artemisia sieberi, Scariola orientalis, Stipa atriseta, and Stachys inflate regarded as indices species was recorded in Bidalam rangeland, Fars province, Iran in a 10-year period (1998 to 2007) and then, the study continued for another two years (from 2016 to 2017). Forage yield was collected through cutting and weighing method in 60 random 2m2 plots along four 300 m transects during 12 years. Climatic parameters such as rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and sunshine periods were obtained from Abadeh weather station and used for estimation of forage yield in different growth periods of the year. The annual dry matter production of each species and sum of all species were used as dependent variables and climatic parameters were considered as independent ones using multivariate linear regression. The results showed that previous rainfall (rainy of growing season plus last year) had the highest effect on annual forage production of rangelands (R2=0.88). It was concluded that using regression analysis between annual rainfall and forage production in some indices species, the rangeland production of coming years could be estimated with high accuracy.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of copper extraction on the structure and function of rangelands ecosystem around the mine area in Dareh Zereshk, Yazd province, Iran. Three study sites were considered at the specified intervals of the mine (0-200, 200-500 and 500-1000m). This research was conducted from 2012 to 2013. In each location, three linear transects with a length of 50 m were deployed in the slope direction. The structural characteristics were measured for ecological patches and inter patches space along each transect, and the landscape organization indices for each ecological unit (distance from the mine) were calculated. For each patch and inter patch, five measurement areas (replicates) were considered over each transect. In addition, 11 soil surface indices were evaluated and categorized. Using the soil surface indices scoring, the functional characteristics of each ecological unit including stability, permeability and nutrient cycle were calculated for each patch and inter patch in three locations. Based on the results, there were significant differences between the nearest (0-200m) and far (500-1000m) ones from the mine for indicator and functional traits (P<0.05). But there was no significant difference between the mid distance of the mine (200-500m) and two other sites, near and far from the mine (P>0.05). On the other hand, the function of different types of ecological patches was significant at different distances from the mine (P<0.05). So, the combined patches and inter patches had the highest and lowest values of functional indicators, respectively. The results demonstrate the efficiency of the landscape function analysis method to assess the post-mining damages and any subsequent reconstruction of rangeland in the around area.

Salsola turcomanica (Litv) is a widespread wild plant species in Middle Eastern arid and semi-arid areas and is a relatively palatable halophyte species that has low establishment rate in the field. In winter 2017, in order to optimize the germination indices, its seeds were treated by scarification, stratification, scarification after stratification, gibberellic acid, potassium nitrate and hot water. Then, in separate trials, the effects of six levels of drought stress (0, -2, -4, -6, -8, -10 Bar) and salinity (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 ds/m) were assessed under laboratory conditions as well as the effect of four sowing depths (0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5 cm) investigated on seedling emergence under greenhouse conditions. All four experiments were carried out using completely randomized designs with four replications. A significant decrease was observed in the seed germination indices by increasing drought and salinity stress levels (p<0.05). This species had moderate to low germination percent under -2 bar drought stress and 15 ds/m salinity. Based on the obtained result, the scarification was the best treatment of seed germination, so the seeds of S. turcomanica were scarificated and sown (100 kg/ha) in the field at the end of autumn 2018. According to the results, the highest seed emergence was observed at the shallow depth sowing and resulted in 28.7% vegetation cover and 176.44 (g/m2) dry matter production at the end of growing season. So, it was concluded that for dry land farming system, cultivation of this species in winter rangelands can reduce wind erosion during its growth period in summer and provide a considerable quantity of forage. Based on the results of this research, cultivation of this species can be recommended to rangeland improvement or ley-farming projects.

This research aims to analysis the biophysical characteristics of watershed of Deli River to know potential flooding in Medan. The research is conducted at Deli River, which is located in 3 locations in North Sumatera namely Karo Regency, Deli Serdang and Medan City. Indonesia. This research used field survey method, survey activity in the form of observation and verification of characterization and biophysical identification of watershed in each location. Some properties of soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory. Field surveys are also conducted by observing the types of land use, as well as, climate and hydrological data. The results of Surveyed data and soil analysis were used to assess land damage. The findings showed that understanding the biophysical flow of the river especially land use, slope, landform, and rainfall in the upstream Deli sub watershed in the Deli river in Medan is very important and sensitive. One of the causes of flooding in Medan City due to the degradation / damage of land both due to erosion, land criticality, and land use that is not in accordance with the ability of land use. The direction of conservation and land use has an impact on the decrease of maximum flood and flood volume of each Sub Watershed with 2, 5 and 10 year re-period.

Quantitative study of species diversity across different land use units and districts is important to document status of local plant biodiversity, to evaluate impact of management and for planning future management. This study aimed at determining impacts of land use units on species diversity and spatial distribution of species in two districts of Borana zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. Stratification and systematic random sampling techniques were used for data collection. Plot size of 500 m2 for woody species and subplots of 0.25 m2 for herbaceous species and soil samples were used. Data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Shannon diversity index and Simpson index were determined. Relationships between vegetation and environmental variables were analysed using Redundancy Analysis (RDA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). The overall mean alpha, beta and gamma diversities were 29.2, 2.5 and 102.6, respectively. Average total number of species in enclosures and open access grazing sites was 113 and 96 species, respectively. Enclosures or relatively protected land use units (Kalos) had more species diversity than their corresponding open access grazing lands (Worras). Shannon diversity index ranged from 3.11 in the grazing land for dry livestock to 3.78 in the Web grazing land for lactating cattle. Similarly, Simpson index of dominance ranged from 0.034 in the Web Worra to 0.089 in grazing land for dry livestock (Foora). Kalos had higher Simpson diversity index than their corresponding Worras. Soil nutrients varied across land use units. Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) was higher in enclosed than in open access grazing land use units. The study also showed that there was significant variation in P, Ca, CEC, silt and sand across the two districts (p<0.05). RDA and CCA results revealed that altitude, OM, K and N were the most important environmental variables that significantly accounted for the spatial distribution and abundance of species. It was concluded that enclosures had contributed to increased species diversity. Promoting the area enclosure as a viable strategy for biodiversity management and rehabilitation of rangelands were recommended as a result of this study.

Hedysarum flexuosum L. is an important forage legume with high nutritive value. The determination of forage production in natural habitats is the most important factor for grazing management. Studies on its habitat characteristics and distribution are scarce. This research was conducted in order to evaluate the extent of pheno-morphological diversity in natural populations of Hedysarum flexuosum from different environments throughout Tizi-Ouzou province (Algeria), and to analyse the relationships among the diversity patterns and environmental parameters. Some morphological characters that reflect the behaviour and diversity of biogeographical origin of five natural populations of Hedysarum flexuosum collected in situ under edaphic and climatic conditions of the region of Kabylie, for five phenological stages (vegetative growth, budding, flowering, seed setting and seed ripening), were determined. The sites have been chosen following the gradient East (Souama), West (Sidi Naamane), North (Timizart), and South (Ait Toudert) and site in the Center (Bousmahel). Plant samples harvested from 12 plants for stems and leaves parameters as a replication in each phenological stage. The parameters were: leaves number per plant, leaves number per stem, stems number per plant, weight of fresh leaves, weight dried leaves, weight of fresh stems and weight dried stems, Leaf/stem ratio for fresh and dry weight, and forage dry yields. Soil samples were analysed to determine pH, EC, total limestone, organic carbon percentage and soil texture. Results showed that this species grows in soils with lime amount between 0.63 to 20%, clay or clay loam texture, acidity from 7.62 to 8.40 and organic matters from 0.21 to 2.54%. Furthermore, results showed significant effect (p<5%) of H. flexuosum populations (sampling sites) and phenological stages on all traits, except leaf/stem ratio (fresh weight and dry weight) for sites. The findings of this study can be noticed for proper range management, conservation and development for this valuable species in such conditions.

Food security covers aspects at all spatial levels from local to global and from an interdisciplinary and systemic food systems perspective. This book aims to better understand environmental, nutritional, agricultural, demographic, socioeconomic, political, technological, and institutional drivers, costs, and outcomes of current and future food security. Interactions with contextual factors include climate change, urbanization, greening the economy, and data-driven technologies. Agriculture began some 12,000 years ago. Since that time, approximately 7000 plant species and several thousand animal species have been used for human food. Today, however, the worldwide trend is toward changing food habits and dietary simplification, with consequent negative impacts on food and nutrition security (Emadi and Rahmanian, this volume and Burlingame et al. 2012; Boye and Arcand 2012). Agricultural landscapes also suffer from genetic erosion as traditional landraces and “minor crops” are rapidly disappearing, replaced by modern varieties. Such genetic erosion means that future options for domestication, breeding, and evolution could be irreversibly lost, a fact that is being recognized through the development of “red list” for cultivated species. Agrobiodiversity is the subset of biological diversity important to food and agriculture. It is the human element that sets agrobiodiversity apart from “wild” biodiversity. Agrobiodiversity is the outcome of the interactions among genetic resources, the environment, and farmers’ management systems and practices.