An investigation of the rangeland species preference for camel grazing in Tabas rangeland

Preference value of species can be useful for ranger to present practical solution for selecting suitable. Livestock according to kind of species and rangeland suitability. To achif this goal, investigation of preference value of species which was grazed by camel, was considered in Halvan Tabas region which is located in Yazd province. six native species of camels were randomly selected and their gazing time was observed and recorded. The data collection process involved sixty-minute observation of each camel recorded by chronometer in different seasons, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. The data were analyzed through split plot design, and the Duncan test was used for camper mean. The results indicate that the preference value of plants has significant difference (p<0. 01).The findings also suggest another significant difference as far as seasons and time of grazing ( i.e. morning or afternoon) are concerned. Based on the anlysis on the means of the percentage preference value of the species through out the year, the following were attained: the percentage of plant preference value was 48.4% for Haloxylon aphyllum (the first palatable species), 22.6% for Seidlitzia rosmarinus (the second palatable species), 18.78% for a collection of annual species (third palatable species), and 7.2% for Salsola arobuscula ( the forth palatable species). In fact, a significant difference was observed among species. There was no significant difference (p<0. 01) among other 4 species which are Calligonum persicum(1.1%), Stipagrostis pennata(1.1%), Astragalus squarrosus(0.7%) and Peganum harmala(0.01%). As regards the four seasons, The annual plants and Haloxylon aphyllum had the best palatability for camel grazing in spring and in summer until winter, recpectiving. In contrast, Peganum harmala had the least palatability in all phonological stages. Also, in total, the percentage of grazing time in the morning was more than that of in the afternoon. Furthermore, the percentage preference value of Haloxylon aphyllum and Seidlitzia rosmarinus were more in the morning and afternoon, respectively. Finally, no significant difference of any kind was observed among the other plants with regarding their preference value (p<0. 01).