Investigation on changes in consumption and production of rangeland species in Sabalan Mountain Rangelands of Ardabil Province

The aim of this study was to evaluate the production characteristics and the consumption rate of dominant forage species in different phenological stages. The study was conducted in Sabalan, Ardebil Province for four years. In this study, for each species, four average individuals were selected and marked inside and outside the exclosure, and the production was harvested. The total forage production and consumption was calculated using the production and density data of average individuals in the exclosure. In order to assess the effects of year and months of harvesting on the production and consumption of the study species, the data were analyzed by combined analysis of variance in a completely randomized design using SAS software. Mean comparison was performed by Duncan's test at 5% level for the effects of year, species and month on forage production and consumption. According to the results, a significant difference was found among the species in terms of production and consumption in the months of growth season and grazing period, as well as the study years. The total forage production of plants was different among the study years. The highest and lowest forage production (1971.19 and 1635.35 kg/ha) were recorded for the years 2010 and 2008, respectively. In addition, the highest and the lowest forage consumption (with 86.72 and 67.71 kg/ha had) was obtained in the years 2008 and 2009, respectively. Since the interaction effect of year and month was significant for most of the species, it can be concluded that forage production and consumption are affected by the year and its prevailing conditions.