Estimating Plant Biomass by Using Non-Destructive Parameters in Arid Regions (Case Study: Inche-Broun Winter Rangelands, Golestan, Iran)

Document Type: Research and Full Length Article

Authors

1 Ph.D Student, Rangeland Ecology and Management Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources of Gorgan University

2 Associate Professor, Rangeland Ecology and Management Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources of Gorgan University

3 Environment Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources of Gorgan University

Abstract

Plant biomass is an important factor for determining arid and semi-arid
rangelands capacity. Due to the lack of proper and annual sampling of rangelands, there are
no suitable data to determine biomass, range condition and proper range management
operations. Plant biomass is one of the measurable attributes that can be assessed in
rangeland studies. Since the clip and weight method is destructive and time-consuming,
green biomass was estimated by using dimensional parameters (Plant Allometry) including
canopy cover, length and width of diameters. Field sampling was done using seventy 2×2
m quadrats along five 100 m transects. The data were analyzed by stepwise regression. The
results showed that the fresh and dry biomass showed significant positive correlations with
canopy cover, the length and width of diameters of Halocnemum strobilaceum shrub
(p<0.05). The results of stepwise regression showed that just canopy cover and diameter
length were remained in the final model, so that 80.2% of biomass variations were
explained by canopy cover and diameter length.

Keywords

Journal of Rangeland Science

Volume 3, Issue 4
Autumn 2013
Pages 295-301

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