Abbas Ali Arvin; Morteza Khodagholi; Susan Moazeni
Abstract
Thyme is one of the most important medicinal plants in the world; some of its species are native to Iran. Given the necessity of thyme preservation and development, the vegetative climatic needs of this plant were addressed in this study. To this aim, 52 climatic parameters influential on the thyme growth ...
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Thyme is one of the most important medicinal plants in the world; some of its species are native to Iran. Given the necessity of thyme preservation and development, the vegetative climatic needs of this plant were addressed in this study. To this aim, 52 climatic parameters influential on the thyme growth were considered in 30 meteorological stations located in Isfahan province and the neighboring provinces. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was then conducted to determine the most important factors influencing the growth of thyme. Determination of the climatic zones of the thyme plant was done using hierarchical cluster analysis, leading to the identification of five climatic zones; according to effective climatic parameters, these included the cold and rainy zone, the semi-arid and cold zone, the dry and windy zone, the arid and cloudy zone, and the dry and hot zone. Cooling temperature factor, with a mean of 2.55, had the most positive effect, while the wind factor, with a mean score of -0.28, had the highest negative impact on the distribution of thymus species in the zones with this species. The precipitation factor, with a mean score of 0.8, had the second rank in the zone that could be suitable for the growth of thyme species. Overall, cooling temperature and precipitation could be regarded as the most important factors in determining the growth and distribution of this species; these factors could have a positive effect in rainy and cold zone and the semi-arid and cold one.
Morteza Khodagholi; Razieh Saboohi; mina bayat; Javad Motamedi
Abstract
For the experiment, at the beginning of each growing season, an adult Naiini sheep (3-4 years old) was used as representative of the herd and used in annual censuses. Grazing time measurement continued at the beginning of the growing season and during the four growth stages. Census time at each growth ...
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For the experiment, at the beginning of each growing season, an adult Naiini sheep (3-4 years old) was used as representative of the herd and used in annual censuses. Grazing time measurement continued at the beginning of the growing season and during the four growth stages. Census time at each growth stage was performed one hour after daily grazing, and in three continuous 20-min periods (repeat experiment). Considering the time of concentration of the animal and the tendency of the animal to different species, the palatability class of each plant species was determined. The results showed that during all the years under study, grazing concentration of Naiini sheep on annual species (Grass and Forbes), litter, Stachys inflata, Artemisia sieberi, Stipa arabica, Noaea mucronata and Hertia angustifolia was observed. Based on the results, annual and litter species were classified as Class І species, Stachys inflata as Class II plant and Artemisia sieberi, Stipa arabica, Noaea mucronata and Hertia angustifolia as Class Ш species. The results showed that the palatability of the species was not the same as the change in plant composition during the growing season. Therefore, it is incorrect to consider the same palatability class for each species at different stages of development, and it is necessary to pay more attention to the description of pasture design services when calculating grazing capacity.
Morteza Khodagholi; Razieh Saboohi
Abstract
The genus of Astragalus accounts for 31.4 percent of area of Isfahan Province with Astragalus verus Olivier as a foremost species. This study aimed to investigate the contributing climatic variables to distribution of this species. Moreover, the trends of climatic variables and their influence on the ...
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The genus of Astragalus accounts for 31.4 percent of area of Isfahan Province with Astragalus verus Olivier as a foremost species. This study aimed to investigate the contributing climatic variables to distribution of this species. Moreover, the trends of climatic variables and their influence on the species mortality. In doing so, 56 climatic variables relating to January, March, July, and the entire year were utilized. The Principal Component Analysis was employed to trim down the number of variables and their trends were analyzed using the Mann-Kendall test. The correlation analysis was ultimately used to investigate the association between climatic changes and mortality of Astragalus verus. Results showed that cooling temperature contributed most in the distribution of the species. The trend of temperature also indicated that mean temperature followed an upwards trend in most months of the year. Except Ardestan, Isfahan, Eastern Isfahan, and Kaboutar-Abad, annual precipitation declined but not significantly at the level of 1 and 5 percent. The dried up stands observed in Naeen region was estimated to be around 25 percent where the largest decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature was recorded. This estimate was only around 8 percent in Khansar and Chadegan whose increasing temperature and wind speed as well as decreasing precipitation were compensated by having a good growing potential.
