فهرست مطالب kazem saedi

The rangelands of Kurdistan province in Iran cover 1,182,214 hectares, equivalent to 1.4% of the country's rangelands, 10% of the Zagros rangelands, and about 40.5% of the province's total land area. There are currently 115 families, 660 genera, and 2350 species of plants in the Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center's herbarium (HKS). With more than 200 plant species with medicinal properties, Kurdistan province holds a special place in the Zagros and the country. Through the cultivation and domestication of these plants in educational, extension and research farms, officials and individuals can gain a better understanding of planting medicinal plants and the many opportunities these plants provide for income generation and employment. The purpose of this study was to identify the obstacles and challenges associated with the development of plantations of medicinal plants in Kurdistan province by conducting interviews with local operators and experts (30 stakeholders). It was found that the main challenges and obstacles to the development of medicinal plants in Kurdistan province and in the country are as follows: 1) A lack of or absence of government financial support for medicinal plants and modern irrigation systems (with a relative weight (RW) of 99.33%), 2) International economic and banking sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran (RW=96.67%), 3) Weakness in the area of commercialization and the development of transformation industries (RW=94.67%), 4) Inadequacies in the promotion of medicinal plants in Kurdistan province and throughout the country (RW=90.67%), 5) The lack of standards for the development, production, and processing of medicinal plants (RW=84%), 6) Lack of branding and presence on international markets (RW=70%), and 7) The low degree of mechanization in the production and processing of medicinal plants (RW=62.67%). It is therefore possible to increase the production the plant industry by increasing government financial support, increasing the knowledge of producers, providing the basis for exporting processed products, increasing added value through branding and processing, and reducing production costs as a result of mechanization in production, packaging, and processing.

In this study, regarding to the diversity of rangeland services, we tried to explain structure of alpine/subalpine ecosystem habitats using a brief review on current data and determine their dominant vegetation types in Iran. In this regard, different vegetation characteristics were determined using the data of the previous project of “Recognition of ecological zones of Iran”. On the basis of the information of mentioned project, the regions above 2700 m a.s.l., equal to 2.2 m ha were considered as alpine/subalpine vegetation zones. These zones, have been categorized according to their vegetation formations (growth forms and plant genus) and the area occupied by bushes and cushion plants, grasses, forbs and Junipers, respectively. The final report of the project of recognition of ecological zones of Iran, has lack of data for vegetation types of the peak areas, wetlands and meadows. According to diversity in vegetation types and structures, selecting the area above 2700 m a.s.l, is not a valid criteria for the alpine vegetation in the whole country’s area, so, it required a up to date and precise criteria to identify and distinguish this areas within different vegetation zones. Therefore, it need further studies according to challenges and opportunities of these areas, which among them, detailed monitoring and conservation, are the most important plans. The complexity and vulnerability of these ecosystems emphasize the priority of eco-restoration plans for these vegetation zones.

Fire is one of the most important ecological disturbances in rangelands which change the characteristics of vegetation and soil. Up to now few studies have been conducted to study the short-term effects of fire on soil and vegetation in semi-arid shrubland. The positive or negative effects of fire on soil and vegetation of rangeland have been investigated in this research.

Soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), and magnesium (Mg) content were selected as soil attributes and vegetation richness, diversity and density (percent ground cover) as vegetation properties. Vegetation and soil sampling was performed based on systematic randomized method along 3 transects (The length of transects in the control and burnt area was 100 m and the distance between each plots was 10 m). Information about vegetation traits (production, density, diversity, richness and evenness) were recorded in 1 m2 plots. Soil samples were taken at two depths of 0-15 and 15-30 cm by auger.

Compared to unburnt rangeland, the percentage of vegetation (16.30 %), production (20.47 Kg ha-1) and density of vegetation (6.74 %) in burnt region have been decreased significantly (P<0.05).

The results of the present study had shown a significant decrease in species diversity and richness in burnt rangeland. There were not any positive effects of fire on soil or vegetation cover in studied area.

This research was aimed to investigate the soil function indices in an exclosure region in comparison with non-exclosure. Then, using random plots as a control method, vegetation cover, stones and gravel, and litter were measured. Our results showed that the exclosure region (Saral Research Station) had better condition in terms of function indices in comparison with non-exclosure regions, indicating the positive impact of no livestock grazing for a long time. Northern slope of the exclosure region and the southern slope of non-exclosure region were identified as the most stable (60.26) and unstable (52.8) in the study area. The highest infiltration was recorded for the southern slope of the exclosure region (58.7), and the northern slope of the exclosure region had the highest nutrient cycling (45.63). The western slope of the exclosure region represented the longest inter patch in the whole landscape and the northern slope of exclosure had the largest area and number of ecological patches. Considering the area and number of patches helps the range manager detect the effect of exterior and interior factors on rangeland easier. Overall, long-term exclosure in the Saral region could be mentioned as a suitable method to reduce the runoff, soil erosion, and sediment production.

In this study, samples were collected in several phenological stages (in two growing seasons of 2010 and 2011) to assess the effects of two grazing systems (continuous and short-term) on forage quality of three key range species of Bromus tomentellus, Cephalaria kotschyi and Ferula haussknechtii in Zardawan ranch, and two species of Bromus tomentellus and Ferula haussknechtii in Baharestan ranch. The grazing systems are short-term and continuous in Zardawan and Baharestan, respectively. The studied traits were dry matter digestibility (DMD), acid detergent fibers (ADF), water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC), ash and crude protein (CP). Near infra-red spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to measure these traits. A combined analysis based on unbalanced completely randomized design was conducted for statistical analysis. Mean comparisons were made by Duncan's multiple range test. Results indicated that for all species, phenological stages affected all studied traits, without any exception, so that the late vegetative growth stage could be recommended as a proper time for livestock entry to the rangeland. In the face of variation sources studied, different species showed different responses. The comparison of species habitats showed that none of forage quality traits of B. tomentellus and F. haussknechtii differed in the two sites studied. The mean of most forage quality traits were similar in the two years. According to the results, short-duration grazing system of the Shagaldari did not affect the measured traits negatively, but continuous heavy grazing caused to decreased forage quality.