Livestock Management in the Arid Zone: Coping Strategies
الموضوعات :Victor R Squires 1 , Elahe Karami 2
1 - Ecology and Resources Group, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou
2 - Department of Rangeland Management, Young Researchers Club, Boroujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Boroujerd,
الکلمات المفتاحية: Management, Livestock, arid zone,
ملخص المقالة :
The arid zone encompasses land that has an imbalance between precipitation and losses through evaporation. Globally, arid zones comprise large part of many countries in the mid-latitudes in both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres. Both Australia and Iran are countries with a large arid zone. This negative water balance in the arid zone affects the type of land use in these countries. At the driest end of the spectrum only the hardiest livestock, camels, and some locally adapted sheep and goats provide subsistence to nomadic peoples. In other parts of the arid zone, the search for forage and water has generated development of a number of management systems involving nomadic, seminomadic and settled herding practices. Maximum forage productivity of livestock in the rangeland depends on the amount of water to which the livestock has access. Livestock can use the range forage in the best way with no harms to the rangeland in order to produce the maximum livestock products if there are enough water resources. Due to the limited drinking water resources in the arid regions and the range ecosystem sensitivity in these regions, the optimum use and in general, water resources management are of considerable importance. Adaptations of livestock and people are discussed here before attention is turned to the impact of livestock on the resource base that is the vegetation (principally forage/browse) and water on which the pastoralists depend.
Ding, X. Z., Liang, C. N., Guo, X and Wu, X. Y., 2014. Physiological insight into the highaltitude adaptations in domesticated yaks (Bos grunniens) along the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau altitudinal gradient. Livestock Science, 162: 233-239.
El Shaer, H. and Squires, V. R., 2015. Halophytic and Salt tolerant feedstuffs: Impacts on nutrition, Physiology and Reproductive Success. CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA. 458 p.
FAO, 2007 The state of the world‟s animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, B. Rischkowsky, and D. Pilling (eds), Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Heshmati, G. A., 2013. Indigenous plant species from drylands of Iran: Distribution and Potential for Habitat Maintenance and Repair. pp. 355- 375 In: Heshmati, G.A., and V.R. Squires (Eds). Combating desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East: Proven Practices. 476 p. Springer, Dordrecht,
Hoffmann, I., Boerma, D., and Scherf, B., 2010. The global plan of action for animal genetic resources –the road to common understanding and agreement. Livestock Science Special Issue “ nimal breeding for poverty alleviation: harnessing science for greater impact” nimal Genetic Resources, 2010, 47, 1–10.
Hossaini, Negar., 2012. http://negarhossaini.persianblog.ir/post/247/.
Kadzere, C. T., Murphy, M. R., Silanikove, N., and Maltz, E., 2002. Heat stress in lactating dairy cows: a review. Livest Prod Sci, 77: 59- 91.
Kreutzmann, H., 2013. The tragedy of responsibility in high Asia: modernizing traditional pastoral practices and preserving modernist worldviews. Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice 2013, 3:7.
Mangold, J., Monaco, T., Sosebee, R., and Svejcar, T., 2010. Invasive Rangeland Plants. pp. 171-204 In: Victor R. Squires (ed) Range and Animal Sciences and Resources Management, Vol. II. Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. EOLSS/UNESCO. EOLSS Publishers, Oxford U.K.
Rowlinson, P., Steele, M., and Nefzaoui, A., 2008. Adapting livestock production systems to climate change-temperate zones, Proceedings International Conference, Livestock and Global Climate Change British Society of Animal
Science, Cambridge University Press,
Hammamet, Tunisia. Shang, Z. H., Gibb, MJ., Leiber, F., Ding, L. M., Guo, X. S., and Long, R. J., 2014. The sustainable development of grassland-livestock systems on the Tibetan Plateau: problems, strategies and prospects. The Rangeland Jour. 36(3): 267-296.
Squires, V. 1980 ” Livestock in the Arid Zone” Inkata Press Melbourne 287 p
Squires, V. R., 1982a. 'Dietary overlap between sheep, cattle and goats when grazing in common' : Jour. Range Management 35(1): 116-119.
Squires, V. R., 1982b. 'Competitive interactions in the dietary preferences of kangaroos, and sheep, cattle and goats': Jour. Arid Environments 5: 337-345.
Squires, V. R., 1982c. 'Behaviour of free-ranging livestock on native grasslands and shrublands': Tropical Grasslands 16:161-170.
Squires, V. R., 1987. 'Water and its functions, regulation and comparative use by ruminant livestock': In "The ruminant animal: Its Digestive physiology and nutrient metabolism" (ed. D. C. Church).
Squires, V. R., and Low, W. A., 1987. 'Botanical and chemical composition of the diet selected by cattle in three range types in central Australia' : Australian Rangelands Jour. 9: 86-95.
Squires, V. R., 1994. Overview of problems and prospects for utilizing halophytes as a resource for livestock and for rehabilitation of degraded lands. IN: V. R.Squires and A. T. Ayoub (eds) “Halophytes as a resource for livestock and for
rehabilitation of degraded lands” T SKS O VEGETATION SCIENCE,, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, pp 1 - 6.
Squires, V. R., 2015. Water requirements of livestock fed on halophytes and salt tolerant forages and fodders In: Shaer, H. El., and V. R., Squires (eds). Halophytic and Salt tolerant feedstuffs: Impact on Nutrition, Physiology and
Reproductive success. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
