Impacts of the Intensive Use of Rangeland on the Vegetation Attributes and Soil Seed Bank of Al-Baja Area, White Nile- Sudan

Document Type : Research and Short Length Article

Authors

1 Department of Range Science, College of Forestry and Range Science, Sudan University of Science and Technology

2 Department of Range Science, College of Forestry and Range Science, Sudan University of Science and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan

3 Department of Forestry, College of Forestry and Range Science, Sudan University of Science and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan

Abstract

Al-Baja area is considered one of the most important rangelands in Sudan as a rainy season grazing area, it used intensively by the herders. The study aimed to assess the impacts of intensive use of rangeland on the vegetation attributes and the soil seeds bank of Al-Baja area. Parker loop and quadrate were used to determine the vegetation attributes. The number of samples were distributed systematically along line transects. The soil sample was taken from three depths (0-5, 6-10, and 11-15 cm) to assess the soil seed bank. The data were analyzed using SAS statistical program, Duncan procedure for mean separation. There are significant differences between the ground cover, the litters and bare soil recorded high percentage 40 and 31% respectively. The species Schoenfeldia gracilis recorded high plant composition of 93% and density 75plant/m². The study found that the biomass and carrying capacity of Al-Baja area was very low. The results found that Sechoenfeldia gracilis recorded the highest presence of seed (live 68.2% and dead 70.4%). The study revealed that the soil depth had a significantly affected on the seed number and density in the study area of live and dead seed. The natural rangelands in Al-Baja area have been severely degraded as a result of intensive use by the herders and their animals.

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Main Subjects

Journal of Rangeland Science

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 05 October 2021

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History

  • Receive Date: 12 May 2021
  • Revise Date: 25 August 2021
  • Accept Date: 05 October 2021
  • First Publish Date: 05 October 2021

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