Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan

Scrub rangelands support livestock grazing and provide ecosystem services to their inhabitants. The present study was conducted in Chakwal, an important tract of the Pothwar Plateau, which sustains herds of small domestic and nomadic ruminants. Urbanization and uncontrolled grazing practices have re...

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Autores principales: Islam, Muhammad, Razzaq, Abdul, Zubair, Muhammad, Hassan, Sawsan, Ahmad, Sarfraz, Gul, Shamim, Rischkowsky, Barbara, Louhaichi, Mounir
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Springer 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125143
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author Islam, Muhammad
Razzaq, Abdul
Zubair, Muhammad
Hassan, Sawsan
Ahmad, Sarfraz
Gul, Shamim
Rischkowsky, Barbara
Louhaichi, Mounir
author_browse Ahmad, Sarfraz
Gul, Shamim
Hassan, Sawsan
Islam, Muhammad
Louhaichi, Mounir
Razzaq, Abdul
Rischkowsky, Barbara
Zubair, Muhammad
author_facet Islam, Muhammad
Razzaq, Abdul
Zubair, Muhammad
Hassan, Sawsan
Ahmad, Sarfraz
Gul, Shamim
Rischkowsky, Barbara
Louhaichi, Mounir
author_sort Islam, Muhammad
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Scrub rangelands support livestock grazing and provide ecosystem services to their inhabitants. The present study was conducted in Chakwal, an important tract of the Pothwar Plateau, which sustains herds of small domestic and nomadic ruminants. Urbanization and uncontrolled grazing practices have reduced rangeland productivity and increased soil erosion and resulted in poor land conditions. This study assessed the influence of two years of rangeland protection on aboveground vegetation biomass and the chemical composition of plants and aimed to determine the influence of seasonal grazing on the live-weight gain of small ewes. Using the line intercept method, vegetation data from protected and unprotected plots in 2015 and 2016 were collected at two sites, Dhulli and Begal. Vegetation cover was assessed from images using VegMeasure. Results showed that protected study sites displayed higher vegetation biomass (834 and 690 kg ha-1) compared to the unprotected study site (477 and 326 kg ha-1) during April and August of both years. In the seasonal grazing trial, the experimental ewes that grazed on protected rangelands showed higher live-weight gain (33–63 g day-1) compared to live weight of ewes (17–21 g day-1) that grazed on unprotected rangelands during the experimental period of 127 days at both sites. The results suggest that the Chakwal rangeland has tremendous potential to improve vegetation productivity but modern livestock management and seasonal grazing practices are needed to improve carrying capacity and livestock productivity.
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spelling CGSpace1251432026-01-14T02:11:32Z Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan Islam, Muhammad Razzaq, Abdul Zubair, Muhammad Hassan, Sawsan Ahmad, Sarfraz Gul, Shamim Rischkowsky, Barbara Louhaichi, Mounir climate change productivity rangelands goal 13 climate action seasonal grazing climate adaptation and mitigation protected area Scrub rangelands support livestock grazing and provide ecosystem services to their inhabitants. The present study was conducted in Chakwal, an important tract of the Pothwar Plateau, which sustains herds of small domestic and nomadic ruminants. Urbanization and uncontrolled grazing practices have reduced rangeland productivity and increased soil erosion and resulted in poor land conditions. This study assessed the influence of two years of rangeland protection on aboveground vegetation biomass and the chemical composition of plants and aimed to determine the influence of seasonal grazing on the live-weight gain of small ewes. Using the line intercept method, vegetation data from protected and unprotected plots in 2015 and 2016 were collected at two sites, Dhulli and Begal. Vegetation cover was assessed from images using VegMeasure. Results showed that protected study sites displayed higher vegetation biomass (834 and 690 kg ha-1) compared to the unprotected study site (477 and 326 kg ha-1) during April and August of both years. In the seasonal grazing trial, the experimental ewes that grazed on protected rangelands showed higher live-weight gain (33–63 g day-1) compared to live weight of ewes (17–21 g day-1) that grazed on unprotected rangelands during the experimental period of 127 days at both sites. The results suggest that the Chakwal rangeland has tremendous potential to improve vegetation productivity but modern livestock management and seasonal grazing practices are needed to improve carrying capacity and livestock productivity. 2022-10-21T13:49:06Z 2022-10-21T13:49:06Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125143 en Open Access application/pdf Springer Muhammad Islam, Abdul Razzaq, Muhammad Zubair, Sawsan Hassan, Sarfraz Ahmad, Shamim Gul, Barbara Rischkowsky, Mounir Louhaichi. (13/4/2022). Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan. Journal of Mountain Science, 19, pp. 46-57.
spellingShingle climate change
productivity
rangelands
goal 13 climate action
seasonal grazing
climate adaptation and mitigation
protected area
Islam, Muhammad
Razzaq, Abdul
Zubair, Muhammad
Hassan, Sawsan
Ahmad, Sarfraz
Gul, Shamim
Rischkowsky, Barbara
Louhaichi, Mounir
Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan
title Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan
title_full Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan
title_fullStr Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan
title_full_unstemmed Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan
title_short Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan
title_sort impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in chakwal region pakistan
topic climate change
productivity
rangelands
goal 13 climate action
seasonal grazing
climate adaptation and mitigation
protected area
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125143
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