The Impact of Livestock Grazing Management on the Soil Properties of GardanehZanbouri Rangeland of Arsanjan, Iran

Livestock grazing, especially heavy grazing, transforms soil properties. Because proper management of range ecosystems requires knowledge of the modifying and effective factors it as well as knowledge of relations governing components of ecosystems, this study was carried out to evaluate the intensity livestock grazing effect on some of the soil characteristics in Gardaneh Zanbouri Rangeland of Arsanjan. For this reason, in three zones: main, key and critical, Soil sampling was carried out according to systematic random sampling, and from two horizons of 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm. In each horizon, 5 samples were taken and the factors such as conductivity, PH, percentage of clay ingredients, silt, sand and soil moisture were measured. Data analysis was performed in SPSS and mean values of each factor between areas with different intensities by Tukey test. The results of two-way ANOVA analysis and Tukey test showed that there was not any significant difference between the critical and main zones in terms of acidity. But at the key area the value of acidity was more than the other two districts. Also, increasing the grazing intensity led to a decrease of soil moisture, while electrical conductivity was increased.