اعظم خسروی مشیزی

Economic valuation of rangelands is one of the best methods for conservation goals. A study was ‎conducted to assess the economic value of forage loss under the two main forms of traditional ‎pastoralism i.e. sedentary pastoralism and nomadism in historic grazing semiarid rangelands in Khabr ‎National Park, Kerman province, Iran in 2019. Forage production was measured by clip-and-weigh method ‎and forage quality was assessed using Crude Protein (CP) and Acid Detergent Fibre (ADF) indices. The ‎replacement cost method was used for forage valuation and Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) was used as ‎the principal character of forage value. Forage production was decreased by 65% and 78% under ‎nomadism and sedentary pastoralism respectively as compared to exclosure. Assessing species distribution ‎along grazing gradient, using Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), showed that forage quality ‎decreased as grazing intensity increased due to plant composition change. Lathyrus annuus and annual ‎grasses were the highest and lowest value forage, respectively. The forage values for exclosure area, near ‎exclosure area and near village and pastoral tent were 75 $, 20-25 $ and 6-10 $.ha-1 .year-1 , respectively, ‎indicating 65 to 92% reduction in the forage value in traditional pastoralism forms than to exclosure area. ‎Therefore, there was priority to perform appropriate grazing systems such as rest rotational grazing to ‎improve the condition of historic grazing lands and pastoral’s income.‎‎