Ecological monitoring of pasture fodder in the southern part of the Kyzylkum desert

Abstract

Relevance. A characteristic feature of the examined southern part of the Kyzylkum desert of the Turkestan region is mainly the meridional orientation of the ridges and hillyridged massifs of sand. Two main groups of  types of pastures were identified: shrubherbaceous — shrub-ephemeral on hilly-ridged sands and  sagebrush-saltwort, less often with turfy cereals on brown soils.

Methods. The work uses generally accepted methods for determining pasture productivity, projective cover, composition and structure of vegetation cover, as well as phenology of the main forage plants.

Results. The results of the study and the analysis of the dynamics of the botanical composition and structure of grass stands of these types of pastures for 2017–2019 show that in the spring use from 32.4 to 37.5% are short-growing ephemera and ephemeroids from 21.9 to 25.0% — forbs with a spring development cycle. In the subsequent period of the study (July) these indicators decreased respectively to 5.0 and 8.2%, followed by drying. The maximum productivity of plant associations belonging to the second group of desert pasture types also falls in the spring. Gross productivity averages 3.5; 2.0 and 2.3 с/ha, of which the edible feed reserve is 1.75; 1,2; 1.5 c/ha of dry feed mass. The chemical composition of the grass stand of shrub-mixed grass and shrub-ephemeral pastures of the Kyzylkum in the spring season consists of 70.5% water, 6.0% protein, 1.8% fat, 6.5% fiber, 12.8% BEV and 1.6% ash.