Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Investigation Into The Effects Of Rural Roads On Plant Diversity Of Roadsides In Arid Rangelands Of Iran, Anahita Rashtian, Mansour Mesdaghi

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Roads are essential elements of human societies. Rural roads are clear indicators of rural development. Most rural roads in Iran are dirt roads and roadside vegetation is an important part of the ecosystem. Making roads can change the microclimate, including the light regime, pH and organic matter of soil, hydrological and sedimentation regimes (Karim and Mallik 2008; Hayasakaa et al. 2012). This can affect the composition of vegetation, with increased density and frequency of some fast-growing species close to the road for example (Parendes and Jones 2000). Road-building can also contaminate the air, soil, and water, with destruction of …

Plant Species Diversity On Protected And Non-Protected Areas Of Golestan National Park And Vicinity Areas, Masoume Amirkhani, Elham Bagherirad, Mansour Mesdaghi

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

It is important to monitor the status of native rangeland vegetation in order to maintain existing grassland remnants which are valuable for wildlife. In the Steppe region, there has been concern that grazing of late-successional ecosystems may decrease plant species diversity on a local and regional scale and adversely affect rare, threatened, or endangered species. Native vegetation is the best indicator of the potential productivity of a specific location. Range-land herbage production is important for multiple land uses such as livestock production, wildlife food and cover, and protection against erosion. In eastern Oregon, variability in rangeland productivity is linked to …

Integration Of Biodiversity And Agricultural Production Across Australian Temperate Grasslands, Kerry L. Bridle, Jim Crosthwaite, Louise Gilfedder

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The transformation of Australian agriculture over the 20th Century saw the conversion of native pastures to improved pastures, largely through the application of artificial fertilisers. During this time biodiversity conservation was largely confined to iconic scenic reserves on public land. Today, nationally endangered temperate native grassland communities are largely confined to private land. The development of the Landcare Movement in the 1980s highlighted the role that agricultural land managers and agricultural landscapes play in maintaining biodiversity across the continent. Research into on-farm conservation was soon being funded by governments at state and commonwealth levels, as well as industry bodies. These …

Strategies To Ameliorate Pasture Production For Livestock In High Altitude Regions, M. M. Roy

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The high altitude regions in India exhibit a diverse climate, topography, vegetation, ecology and land use pattern. The annual average rainfall varies from 80 mm in Ladakh to over 200 cm in some parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The vegetation varies from the scrub in the lower hills to arctic in the Greater Himalaya (GJK 2004). In this region, Ladakh is a unique land form encompassing distinct physical features, ecology, environment, ethnicity, agricultural systems and livestock rearing practices. This region experiences a very hostile climate and winter temperature may go as low as -30⁰ C. Summer temperature …

Local Use And Knowledge Validation Of Fodder Trees And Shrubs Resources Browsed By Livestock In Manipur (India), R. Joseph Koireng, Ansarul Haq, Kh. Priya Devi

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

North Eastern states of India particularly in Manipur livestock rearing were being considered as one of the important homestead activities in the farm household. In the rural household economy, livestock is considered as an inseparable component in the whole farm business, as the production of milk and meat as well as manure, draught and transportation depends on it. It provides nutritional security to farm family and stabilizes farm income too.

As a major source of animal feeds in Manipur, fodder trees and shrubs are highly valued by farmers. They have deep root systems enabling the extraction of water and nutrients …

Framing Effect And Pastoralist Decision Making Behavior Regarding Lambing Time-An Analysis From Inner Mongolia, China, Yanting Yin, Xiangyang Hou, Xiangjun Yun, Xiliang Li

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Grassland is the largest terrestrial ecosystem in China. However, it is seriously degraded. Lower stocking rates have been necessary for rehabilitating the degraded grassland. In order to rehabilitate the grassland the government proposed the “balancing animals and grass” policy. However, it has been resisted by pastoralists. (Brown et al., 2009). The reasons for the policy’s failure have been widely discussed. To date, there has been a lack of discussion on explicitly addressing the role of pastoralist behavior regarding stock numbers and lambing time. The pastoralists continue to maintain their traditional stocking rate, and take short-term adaptive measures to balance their …

Pasture Management For Sustainable Forage Production, Pijush Kanti Mukherjee, Putan Singh, S. S. Singh

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

In the livestock management grazing was the major feed resources in the past and even today a significant portion of livestock is being sustained on grazing resources from pastures and other grazing lands like forest, fallow lands, cultivable waste lands etc.

During the last few decades ever increasing livestock population has created enormous grazing pressure on pasture resources leading to deterioration and destruction of pastures. This has led to the urgent need of improvement of pastures as well as judicious implementation of grazing management practices. There has been certain constraints on pasture development which include fragmentation and degradation of …

Production And Quality Assessment Of Pasture Crop In Red Lateritic Wasteland Of Central Chhattisgarh, Mahendra Nath Naugraiya, G. S. Tomar

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The livestock constitutes a very important component in rural economy, as in agriculture. Our country largely depends on livestock for manure and power. The availability of fodder is short from the requirement and an estimate of several agencies, there is more than 300 per cent gap between availability and requirement (Anon, 1980). Most of the livestock depend either partially or completely on natural and developed pastoral system, but the existing practices of utilization of range lands, grasslands and forest areas natural resources and increasing land degradation. In the improved pastoral system in wastelands, the carrying capacity of grass-legumes pastoral field …

Herders’ Forage-Livestock Decision Behavior In Northern Grassland Regions Of China, Xiangyang Hou, Yanting Yin, Tingting Wang

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

China has approximately 393 million hectares of grasslands, accounting for 41.7% of the national land area. However, 90% of useable grasslands are degraded because of human and natural reasons. Overgrazing was the dominant factor affecting grassland condition. In order to control the grassland degradation problems, the government has proposed the „forage-livestock balance‟ policy in 2002. A series of ecological policies were (Hou et al., 2013) and outcomes have been described as a “partial improvement amidst overall deterioration”. Reasons for apparent failure of the policy have been the subject of much discussion over the years. However, there has been a …

Basal Cover Of Perennial Native Grasses Increases Due To Seasonal Conditions, Meredith L. Mitchell, N. P. Linden, S. Norng, L. L. Slocombe

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Australian native pastures in the high rainfall zone (> 600 mm AAR) in northern Victoria and southern NSW are usually dominated by annual species, and occupy a considerable proportion of the landscape (Pearson et al., 1997; Hill et al., 1999). Productivity of native pastures can potentially be increased by using fertiliser (Lodge 1979; Garden and Bolger, 2001) but this nearly always comes at the expense of the native perennial grasses (Garden et al., 2000; Garden and Bolger, 2001). However, using a combination of fertiliser inputs and rotational grazing can provide increased productivity while maintaining the native perennial pasture base …

Steppes And Grasslands In Morocco: Diversity, Functional Ecology And Socio-Economic Role, Mohammed Sghir Taleb, Jalal El Oualidi

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

With Morocco’s geographical situation (at the crossroads between Europe and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean), its diverse climate and habitats supports a varied natural vegetation. The floristic richness of the country is related to the heterogeneity of biotypes. From the desert to the high mountains and the littoral to the continental borders, Morocco offers varied ecological conditions that support many different plant species. Steppes and grasslands are important parts of the main plant associations encountered in Morocco. They contain a wealth of flora, play important ecological roles and, from a socioeconomic perspective, are highly significant.

Management Of Tall Wet Grasslands In Dudwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, Indian Terai Protected Areas–Conservation Implications, Harish Kumar

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Tall wet grasslands in the northern alluvial flood plains of the river Ganges and Brahmaputra are popularly known as Terai grasslands. Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh,India, is a moist deciduous forest dominated by sal (Shorea robusta) interspersed with numerous swamps and tall, wet grasslands dominated by Saccharum, Narenga, Sclerostachya, Imperata and Typha species. Common management practices used by the Dudhwa National Park Management include: (1) grass cut and burned; (2) grass cut, removed, and burned; (3) grass harrowed and burned; and (4) grass burned for tall wet grasslands. In this study split plots of 100 …

Biodiversity Mainstreaming In South Africa’S Production Landscapes: Lessons And Achievements, Aimee Ginsburg, Anthea Stephens, Mahlodi Tau, Emily Botts, Stephen Holness

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

South Africa’s grasslands are critically threatened and many biodiversity priority areas lie in production landscapes. This is a challenge best addressed by an approach aimed at strengthening the enabling environment, and innovating, piloting and mainstreaming new models for biodiversity management into production sectors, namely agriculture, forestry, urban development and coal mining. The Grassland Programme (a 20-year partnership between government, conservation agencies, non-governmental organisations, and private sector) has implemented this approach to sustain and secure grassland biodiversity and ecosystem services for the benefit of current and future generations. In five years of implementation, notable achievements have been in shaping policies and …

Improving A Transhumance Livestock System Of India With Modern Technologies, Mounir Louhaichi, Arun Kumar Misra, Khem Chand, Mahesh Kumar Gaur, Douglas E. Johnson

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Traditional livestock rearing systems in grasslands evolved in response to social, climatic, vegetative and technological conditions that existed scores, hundreds, or in some cases up to a thousand of years ago. Many of these systems involve vertical transhumance where flocks and herds are moved up elevation gradients for summer pasturage or horizontal transhumance in which livestock migrate across greater distances in response to regional rainfall patterns and the resulting availability of forage. In spite of the relatively low earnings of individual herders, these pastoral systems can contribute substantially to the national economies, while providing sustenance and food security to significant …

Influence Of Different In-Situ Soil Moisture Conservation Techniques In Aonla Based Hortipasture System On Water Yield In Semi-Arid Region Of India, Ramesh Singh, Sunil Kumar, A. K. Shuka, R. K. Singh

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Land degradation, mainly because of lack of permanent vegetal cover, is major challenges to feed the ever increasing population of the world. As of now, one-sixth population is affected by land degradation. India is also suffering by land degradation as it’s having detrimental impact on production and productivity. The Bundelkhand region, located in Central India, is amongst the most degraded ecosystems characterized by undulating and rugged topography, highly eroded and dissected land, poor soil fertility and low water holding capacity, scarce ground water resources, erratic distribution of rainfall, lack of assured irrigation facilities, heavy biotic pressure on forests, inadequate vegetation …

Water Use Efficiency And Evapotranspiration Of Hybrid Napier (Pennisetum Purpureum X P. Americanum) Under Semi-Arid Indian Region, J. B. Singh, Rajiv K. Agrawal, Pradeep Behari

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Napier bajra hybrid (Pennisetum glaucum x P. purpureum) is a highly valued for its abundant quality forage, round the year fodder availability, regenerative ability and suitability to silage and hay making. It yields upto 110-120 t/ha fresh fodder as sole crop. Though, it requires moist regimes for optimum growth, but it can withstand drought for a short spell and regenerate with rains. It contains 8.7-10.2 % crude protein, 28-30.5% crude fibre and 10-11.5 % ash on dry matter basis (Agrawal et al., 2001). The hybrid napier has wider adaptability and is grown all over the country, …

Evaluation Of Grasses Raised Through Sewage Water In Musi, Hyderabad, M. Shanti, K. Narasimha Reddy, M. C. Patnaik, R. V. T. Balazzii Naaiik, T. Shashikala, Ch. Chiranjeevi, R. Susheela, M. Anuradha

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Growing of various crops utilizing sewage is a common scenario in many urban and sub-urban areas. The crops mostly include forage crops, leafy vegetables, vegetables and sometimes food grains. These sewage waters are known to contain undesirable constituents like heavy metals, pesticide residues besides, harmful pathogens. These undesirable components can make way very possibly from sewage to soils, plant parts; there by to even milk, thus entering into food chain. Musi, a tributary of Krishna on whose banks Hyderabad lays is the main fodder bank of the city. Thousand of hactares of land resembling vast grassland ecosystem is under cultivation …

Effect Of Planting Methods And Forage Crop Combinations On Fodder Productivity Through Moisture Conservation, Kauthale Vitthal Keshav, P. S. Takawale, S. D. Patil

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Out of 140.02 million ha cultivated area of the country, 76.76 million ha (54.82 %) is rainfed having soils with poor fertility and numerous physiochemical constraints. The productivity of animals is very low because of shortage of green fodder during most of the years. The poor feed quality and dry season feed shortage are the serious limitations for livestock production in rainfed areas & farmers maintain a large herd of animals to compensate for the low productivity of the livestock, which adds to the pressure on land and fodder resources (Pathak, 2005).

Western Maharashtra region suffers from very low rainfall …

Relationship Between Rainfall And Annual Forage Biomass To Build A Forage-Balance Guarantee System In Brazilian Semiarid, Ana Clara Rodrigues Cavalcante, Rodrigo Gregório Da Silva, Magno José Duarte Cândido, Jay Peter Angerer

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Semiarid regions around the world are characterized by elevated annual evapotranspiration and irregular rainfalls (Creswell and Martin, 1998), resulting in a negative water balance in most part of the year. The high rainfall variability associated to a high pressure on natural resources generated a scenario of degradation, which is worrying for the future of many rangelands. In this sense, it is urgent to understand the processes involved in the sustainability of vulnerable ecosystems to keep them productive and profitable. Among the rural activities in the semiarid regions, the raising of livestock has been contributed to become the farms viable. To …

Tillage And Mulching Effects On Crop Productivity And Moisture Dynamics In Fodder Sorghum Based Cropping Systems Under Rainfed Condition, Kiran Kumar, T. Palsaniya, A. K. Dixit, G. Prabhu, Manoj Chaudhary

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Indian farmers generally take more than one crop in a year to maximize their total production and profits. In this process fodder sorghum followed by crops like chickpea, wheat, oat, barley and mustard are common in Bundelkhand region of central India. The soils of Budelkhand region of India are medium to low in fertility with low organic matter content and poor water holding capacity that limits the fodder and food productivity. Therefore, adoption of resource conserving technologies in fodder sorghum based cropping systems under rainfed conditions is one of the potential areas, where increase in green fodder and food production …

Participation And Constraints Faced By Farm Women Of Watershed Programmes In Bundelkhand Region Of Central India, Om Prakash, Bankey Bihari

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The watershed programme is primarily a land based programme, which is increasingly being focused on water, with its main objective being to enhance agricultural and grassland productivity through increased in-situ moisture conservation and productive irrigation for socio-economic development of rural people and its success in soil and water conservation often requires a combination of various measures and needs to be integrated with in a comprehensive agricultural management system. Hence, in order to gain the potential ecological and economic benefits from soil and water conservation, policy and funding support are necessary. The region of Bundelkhand in central India (240-260 30’ N …

Estimation Of Net Rainfall Through Guava Tree For In-Situ Soil Moisture Conservation In Guava Based Hortipasture System In Central India, Akram Ahmed, Sunil Kumar

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Rainfall (R) falling on any vegetation can be partitioned in Stemflow (SF), Throughfall (TF) and Interception loss (I). Stemflow is that part of rainfall which flows down to the ground via leaves, stem, branches and trunk (above ground vegetative part). Throughfall is the part of rainfall which drips down through the canopy to the ground. Interception is the part of the rainfall after absorption by different parts of tree which remains with the above ground vegetative part and later on lost by the process of evaporation. Thus, SF and TF are combined termed as net rainfall and flow as runoff …

Management Effect On Rainfall Use Efficiency And Growth Rate Of Spineless Cactus Cv. Miúda In Northeast Brazil, Toni Carvalho De Souza, Mércia V. F. Dos Santos, Márcio V. Da Cunha, Felipe M. Saraiva, Alexandre C. L. De Mello, Mário De Andrade Lira, Ivan Ferraz, José C. B. Dubeux Jr.

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Spineless cactus has a high rainfall use efficiency. Under water deficit, they open their stomata during the night to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide when the air temperature is lower and relative humidity higher (Taiz and Zeiger, 2009), losing less water to the atmosphere. The rainfall use efficiency (RUE) can be expressed as the amount of water used by the crop to produce dry matter (Han and Felker, 1997). The RUE showed by spineless cactus, a CAM plant, is three to five times greater than the one observed in C₃ and C₄ plants (Felker and Russel, 1988; Nobel, 1991). …

Effects Of Alternate Furrow Irrigation On The Forage Quality Of Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa), Xiao Yu, Zhengang Guo, Tingting Jia, Yuying Shen

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is widely used to establish pasture to sustain animal production because of its high nutritional quality for livestock (Bouton, 2012). Therefore improving quality of alfalfa pasture is the main goal for establishing pasture throughout the world. Irrigation is an important approach for achieving high qualities of alfalfa pasture, however, the scarcity of water threatens the sustainability of world alfalfa production, requiring us to force on using water more efficiently (Liu and Guo, 2013). Alternate furrow irrigation has been proved as a water-saving technique to promote fruit quality of tomatoes and grapevines and the seed quality …

Effect Of Mulching Practices On Soil Moisture And Yield Of Forage Crops, Champak Kumar Kundu, Himangshu Das, Pintoo Bandopadhyay

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

One of the main impediments in the way of improvement of livestock production is insufficiency of fodder. The gap between supply and demand would further aggravate due to increase in livestock population. In eastern India and Bengal delta land is usually devoted to fodder crops beyond monsoon when soil moisture becomes a limiting factor for crop production. Appropriate soil moisture conservation practices may reduce the evaporation loss and increase the yield. Among the different soil water conservation measures, mulching has gained popularity because it reduces the direct evaporation loss of soil water by restricting the transport of water vapour from …

Waterponding The Rangelands, Ray F. Thompson

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Bare, scalded semi-arid areas in western New South Wales Australia are being transformed into biodiverse native pastures, thanks to the waterponding technique which is returning clear profit to the landholder and benefits to the environment. Waterponding is a land rehabilitation technique used on duplex scalded soils in the semi-arid rangelands. Waterponding is the holding of water on the scald in surveyed horseshoe-shaped banks, each covering 0.4 ha. The ponded water leaches the soluble salts from the scalded surface. This improves the remaining soil structure, inducing surface cracking, better water penetration and entrapment of wind-blown seed. In the 1960s, it was …

Nitrogen Use Efficiency And Root Dry Matter Partitioning In Four Perennial Temperate Forage Grass Species, Luis Inostroza, Joel Ibañez, Fernando Ortega, Hernán Acuña, Pablo Undurraga

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

In Chile, the livestock systems based on perennial swards (grasses/white clover) have intensified its production because of the indiscriminated increases in nitrogen fertilization (Vistoso et al., 2012). Currently, new agronomic practices are demanded to allow the increase of the Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) of perennial swards. In livestock systems, NUE can be studied and improved at animal, soil and plant level. In Chile, the two first levels have been broadly studied (Vistoso et al., 2012) but the plant contribution has been ignored. Today, a lot of cultivars from temperate grass species originated from different part of the world …

Tall Fescue (Festuca Arundinacea) Stockpiling Response To N Fertilizer In Southern Virginia As Affected By Biological Soil Quality, Christopher D. Teutsch, Robert Shoemaker, Alan J. Franzluebbers

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Cattlemen in the eastern USA profitably utilize endophyte-infected tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) for fall-stockpiled winter grazing. Ergot alkaloid concentration in fescue tends to decline in winter. This improves the quality of fescue for grazing when the supply of other forage becomes limited on most farms. Tall fescue dry matter yields generally respond favorably to nitrogen (N) inputs, but response can be limited with summer application due to accumulation of biologically available N in soil. Research is needed to characterize a diversity of pastures for response to N fertilizer during fall stockpiling.

Biological soil quality can be estimated with …

Declining Water Resources And Environmental Degradation: A Case Of The Thulokhola Watershed In The Nuwakot District Of Nepal, Durga D. Poudel, Timothy W. Duex

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Climate change alters the hydrology of a watershed through changes on precipitation patterns, extreme rain events, increase on temperatures, degradation of forest and soil resources and drought conditions. Drought conditions create stress on agricultural crops, forests, drinking water supply for human and wildlife as well as water supply for industrial uses. Flooding destroys crops, infrastructures, private properties, and results in loss of life. Climate change impacts both the availability as well as the quality of water resources as extreme rain events tend to alter water infrastructures and pollute water sources.

In Nepal, climate change impacts include degradation of resource and …

The Emergence And Survival Of Digitaria Eriantha And Chloris Gayana Seedlings On Mine Tailings Planted With Coated And Non-Coated Seed, Leana Nel, Wayne F. Truter, Piet Van Deventer, Klaus Kellner

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The importance of vegetation in the process of rehabilitation and stabilisation of mined land is becoming more critical as the size of the affected areas and the impact on urban development increases. Successful establishment of vegetation on these areas are complicated by adverse physical and chemical properties of the growth mediums. These include; soil compaction, acidity, salinity and heavy metal contamination, extreme temperatures, low soil water contents and soil erosion (Oncel et al. 2000; Turner et al. 2006; Aken et al. 2007). Many of these soil/substrate conditions mentioned limit the establishment of vegetation from seed. Seed coating …