Introducing Lathyrus boissieri Širj for rehabilitation of cold semi-arid rangelands

The Zagros mountain rangelands are extremely valuable for providing various ecosystem services, including water, food, fibre, carbon storage, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat. However, these rangelands are suffering from overgrazing, leading to depletion of palatable plants over the long term. In addition to the urgent necessity of restoring natural rangeland by palatable species, there are many areas, especially in cold semi-arid regions, which are classified under the title of low-yielding or abandoned rainfed drylands. To restore and rehabilitate these areas, it is necessary to introduce native species that have high quantity and quality. This study was conducted in the form of documents and field surveys. To restore rangelands in the cold semi-arid region of Zagros, Lathyrus boissieri is a good target from the aspect of forage quality and quantity. There is limited ecological information available about L. boissieri, but the species is found naturally in Eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and western Iran. L. boissieri is found in limited areas of provinces located in the Zagros region, such as Chahrmahal and Bakhtiari, Lorestan, Kermanshah, and Kordestan. Field studies showed that L. boissieri was only found in exclosures like Zaqeh and Nojian in Lorestan province.

کلیدواژه ها:

Abandoned rainfed drylands ، Rangeland improvement ، Palatable species ، Zagros