By-products and their exploitation methods
J. Motamedi; H. Arzani; Y. Asri; M. Najafpour Navaei; R. Khalifehzadeh
Abstract
The knowledge of rangelands suitability is a requirement for the exploitation of medicinal plants of those rangelands. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to evaluate the exploitability of MPs in 12 representative habitats of semi-steppe regions based on the ecological and economic (E&E) ...
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The knowledge of rangelands suitability is a requirement for the exploitation of medicinal plants of those rangelands. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to evaluate the exploitability of MPs in 12 representative habitats of semi-steppe regions based on the ecological and economic (E&E) indices. For this purpose, after measuring the vegetation and estimating the production of MPs, the E&E indices related to the exploitation of MPs in each habitat were calculated. Finally, based on the indices, the suitability class of each habitat was determined according to the FAO guidelines by the limiting factor method. The results showed that the forage available of habitats varied from 90 to 591 kg.ha-1. Also, the share of MPs production in habitats was obtained between 5 and 58%. In other words, the production of MPs in the habitats varied from 27 to more than 383 kg.ha-1. Accordingly, the expected value of each hectare of habitats from the exploitation of MPs, taking into account the discount rate of 5.4% in September 2020, varied from 3 to 41 $.ha-1. Overall, the suitability of the habitats varied between good to unsuitable (25% good, 17% moderate, 25% low, and 33% unsuitable) in terms of production and exploitation of MPs, but all the habitats had good suitability in terms of forage production for grazing. Therefore, the exploitation of all the habitats cannot play an important and equal role in improving the livelihood of pastoralists and with the approach of preserving the plant genetic resources, the exploitation of MPs in all the rangeland habitats could not be recommended. In addition, the permitted exploitation limit in each habitat varies according to the conditions and trend of the rangeland and the sensitivity of the soil to erosion. This issue should be considered in the policy of paying attention to MPs, and it should be emphasized in the multi-purpose rangeland management plans.
By-products and their exploitation methods
V. Abdollahi; H. Arzani; M.A Zare Chahuki; H. Movahed Mohammadi; Gh Haderbadi; J. Motamedi
Abstract
The utilization of medicinal plants based on the ecological principles is one of the aspects of multi-purpose use of rangelands. Therefore, the capability of Darmiyan mountain rangelands in the east of the country to exploit medicinal plants was evaluated. For this purpose, in addition to the ecological ...
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The utilization of medicinal plants based on the ecological principles is one of the aspects of multi-purpose use of rangelands. Therefore, the capability of Darmiyan mountain rangelands in the east of the country to exploit medicinal plants was evaluated. For this purpose, in addition to the ecological indicators, the economic, social, and environmental indicators related to the indigenous knowledge were also considered. In this regard, the vegetation inventory was performed inside the 60 two-square-meter plots located at a distance of 20 m from each other along the 200-meter transects, and the share of medicinal species in the plant composition was calculated. The limitations and potentials of the region to exploit the medicinal plants were also evaluated from the point of view of exploiters and experts by designing a set of questions in the form of Likert scale. The final suitability map to exploit the medicinal plants based on the good, medium, low, and non-suitable degrees of suitability was prepared by integrating the maps in the GIS and based on the FAO limiting factor approach. The results showed that 50.11% (6367.83 ha) and 49.89% (6341.44 ha) of the rangelands had medium and low suitability for exploitation, respectively. The canopy percentage had the highest share of limiting the suitability of plant types, in which the harvest of medicinal plants is less recommended to protect the soil and improve the rangeland conditions. The guaranteed purchase of medicinal plants from the exploiters and providing them with the necessary training on various aspects of this profession, will also increase the capability of this type of rangelands exploitation. Accordingly, they should be given more attention in designing the instructions to determine the rangelands suitability to exploit the medicinal plants.
M.H. Pezeshki; J. Motamedi; A. Alijanpour; M. Souri; M.R. Najibzadeh; H. Arzani
Abstract
It is important to determine the suitability of rangelands for the utilization of medicinal plants. The purpose of this study was to introduce some of the criteria and indicators, influencing the rangelands suitability for medicinal plants exploitation and to investigate the differences between the results ...
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It is important to determine the suitability of rangelands for the utilization of medicinal plants. The purpose of this study was to introduce some of the criteria and indicators, influencing the rangelands suitability for medicinal plants exploitation and to investigate the differences between the results of using different approaches of suitability determination. To this end, the suitability of the Arshad Chaman rangeland was evaluated in terms of the utilization of medicinal plants. The results showed that according to the limiting factor method (a common method of determining the suitability of rangelands), 2, 6 and 77 percent of rangelands had respectively good, moderate and low suitability and 15 percent were not suitable for utilization. The mathematical method (using hierarchical analysis process) showed 4, 26, and 45 percent of the rangelands as good, moderate, and low suitability, respectively, and 25 percent as inappropriate for exploitation. The application of the theoretical method (MSMPE) also showed that 39 and 61 percent of the rangelands had respectively good and moderate suitability. In general, it was observed that there were no significant differences between the classes of suitability obtained by the limiting factor and the mathematical methods; however, there was a difference between the classes obtained by the limiting factor and MSMPE methods, and different classes of suitability were obtained for a given area of rangeland in these three methods. Therefore, it is recommended to test the accuracy of the findings of the present study to achieve a practical result in different years in terms of climatic events and other locations with different physical properties. Overall, based on the combined results of different approaches and in terms of physical and environmental constraints, the study area had low suitability for the exploitation of medicinal plants. Therefore, to reduce the livestock pressure on rangelands and increase the diversity of medicinal plants, more attention should be paid to the other aspects of rangeland use such as beekeeping and free tourism.
M. Movaghari; H. Arzani; A. Tavili; H. Azarnivand; M. Saravi; M. Farahpoor
Abstract
Due to the lack of sufficient knowledge on rangeland suitability, rangelands are utilized intensely to provide livestock products and therefore other aspects of utilization have been ignored. However, Iran with more than 8000 plant species is one the world's richest plant communities so that medicinal ...
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Due to the lack of sufficient knowledge on rangeland suitability, rangelands are utilized intensely to provide livestock products and therefore other aspects of utilization have been ignored. However, Iran with more than 8000 plant species is one the world's richest plant communities so that medicinal plants comprise much of this rich flora. Due to the high species diversity, Lasem Watershed has a great potential in the field of medicinal plants. This research was aimed to determine the suitability of medicinal plants in the mentioned watershed. The final suitability map of medicinal plants was prepared by combining vegetation and environmental factors in GIS environment. Sampling was performed randomly within the vegetation types using two 100-m perpendicular transects to measure vegetative characteristics including the frequency, canopy cover percentage, composition and production of medicinal species in 1-m2 plots. According to the obtained results, around 10.6% of the study area (1071.4 ha) was in good suitability class (S1), 28.1% (2841 ha) in fair suitability class (S2), 41.5% (4193.5 ha) in poor suitability class (S3), and 20% of the study area (2006.8 ha) was classified as non-suitable (N). Generally, production economic index was identified as the most important factor, reducing the rangeland suitability of Lasem watershed. In addition, due to the topographic conditions of the region, slope plays a significant role in reducing rangeland suitability.