Fire behavior on range plants yield and its application for improvement of steppic rangelands of Yazd province

Effects of fire on vegetation and rangeland improvement are different according to the season and climatic conditions. In this research, the effect of fire were studied on plant species in steppe rangelands of Yazd. For this aim, one hectare area was selected in Nir range research station. A randomized complete blocks design with 5 treatments (burning in spring, summer, autumn, winter and control) and 4 replications was carried out in 2004. The first measurement of species yield was conducted in late September 2005. Similar measurements were done in 2006. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the amount of Salsola rigida yield in winter treatment and control. Burning almost destroyed the indicator plants of Artemisia sieberi, and Stipa barbata and also two undesirable plants; Noaea mucronata and Cousinia deserti. After two years, yield of Scariola orientalis (undesirable plant) significantly increased in burning treatments in comparison with control treatment whereas no significant decrease was observed for Launaea acanthodes. Although, species yield didn’t decrease in winter treatment, but plants of classes I and II decreased while plants of class III increased. So, the results of this study showed that even winter burning with minimum impact on species yeild will not result on better forages quality of steppic rangelands.