IRANIAN JOURNAL OF RANGE AND DESERT RESEARCH
Year:2005 | Volume:12 | Issue:2 (19)|Papers Count:7

To investigate adaptability the forage production of introduced and indigenous annual medics species in dry farming system, an experiment was carried out in experimental station in Maraveh-Tapeh of Golestan Province in 2001 and 2002. The design of the experiment was randomised complete block with 4 replications. Cultivars were Medicago scutellata cv. Robinson, M. scutellata cV.sava, M. truncatula cv. Caliph, M. truncatula cv. Mogul, and an indigenous species (M. minima). Results showed that, forage yield of cultivars and amount of crude protein were significantly different (P<0.01). At the first year Medicago scutellata cv. Robinson produced higher forage production (764.3 kg/ha) however, at the second year M. truncatula cv. Mogul with 1179.1 kg/ha was the highest forage production. Crude protein production for Robinson and Mogul cultivars were 139.4, and 185.4 kg/ha respectively. At the third year of experiment compared to last two years, temperature range and rainfall rates were very different, So that in germination and seedling stage, temperature was lower than long term average and the seedlings were killed affected by cold before emergence. This result showed that annual medics forage production was considerably affected by environmental conditions.

Drought and harsh environment of deserts have made the stakeholders to do whatever possible to combat desertification. Mulching, using low quality oil materials of oil refineries, is a routine procedure in Iran to stick shifting sands together, which of course has his own criticism. The effect of oil mulch versus other methods of sand stabilization has been tested using a split design experiment. Oil mulch, two water absorbent materials, Belgium and French, and a Chine's mulch and 4 seed, Calligonum comosum, Cyperus conglomeratus, Smirnovia iranica and Haloxylon aphyllum were tested in the experiment. Results show that efficiency of oil mulch is meaningful, at level of 1% and 5%.

Adaptation of 27 range plant species were studied for 5 years (1985-1990) in Marava tapeh of Gonbad Station. Seed of the species were planted on 2 meter length lines aparted 70 cm each other. A completely randomized design with 3 replications was applied for analyses. 120 plants of each species were studied. The percent of alive plants in fifth year are counted and compared. Results showed that the species of Agropyron elongatum, Bromus tomentellus, Puccinellia distans Medicago sativa cri, Medicago sativa. codi and Medicago scutellata, Atriplex halimus, Atriplex canecens established well and were more vigorous and productive than others.

Foxtail Lilly (Eremurus spectabilis M.B.) is a perennial plant, Liliaceae family. It's dried roots are sticky when powdered and exposed to water. This research was conducted to study habitat characteristics and ecological requirements of this species in Khorassan province. In order to determine relationships between soil and plant, some physical & chemical characteristics of soil such as: texture, pH, EC, Na+, K+, lime and gypsum were studied. Also, geology of habitats was studied using geological maps and field check. Results showed that, this species exists in rocky foothills in all geographical orientations and slops of 12% to 68%. Precipitation varies from 200 to 600 mm and annual mean temperature is between 5-15 degree Centigrade. 50 percent of habitats are located in cold semi arid climate. This species prefer sandy loam, silty loam and well drained soil with pH=7. Low EC indicates less salt-tolerance of this species. Parent materials are shale, lime and volcanic stones.

Study of vegetation changes of grazed and ungrazed rangelands is most important in range management programs. Vegetation changes were studied for twenty six years (1968-94) inside and outside of the exclosure in Roudshur rangelands. Measurements were made in permanent plots that has been established in study areas since 1968. Results showed that total canopy cover of perennial species increased about 20%, inside of the exclosure, during first six years of the study period. A lot of this increase related to shrubs and forbs but the grasses canopy cover was very low. The increasers (class II)in composition were high, but the decreasers (class I) were seldom. At the end of study period (1994), the cover of perennials increased 2.5 times, compared to initiation of study and a considerable of cover belonged to grasses, especially Stipa hohenackeriana. Shrubs decreasd from 90% to 60% in plant composition The desirable plants such as Astragals chaborasicus and Poa sinaica which were not in the firsrt six years period established and increased considerably. Invaders (class III) were very low. decreasers were not recorded outside in 1994, but were increased inside considerably. The large portion of vegetation composition was made of increasers, but their cover inside of exclosure was higher than outside. Salsola laricina and Stipa hohenackeriana cover was about 25 times more, inside of exclosure. However the Artemisia sieberi cover was lower inside than outside. Invaders were larger in outside than inside of the exclosure.

In order to introduce species of high forage value and adapted to the condition of Jashlobar rangelands, this study was conducted in jashloubar Rangelands station 5 years (l999-2003).Nine range species were seeded in fall. A completely randomized block design was applied for analyzing of data. The treatments were range species at 9 level and replications were 3 sites. The results showed that Secale montanum, Agropyron elongatum and Bromus tomentellus were established well and Seacle montanum had the best results in the Jashlobar conditions. Therefore this species are recommended for range improvement in the same areas.