Rangelands can renew itself or go backwards depending on the ecological factors. Rangelands exhibit positive, negative or neutral depending on using properties. The objective of this study was to determine rangeland health and ecological site distribution of grazed rangeland with cattle, sheep and mixed stocking in the Kargapazari Mountain Erzurum province. In the investigated rangelands, vegetation, soil and hydrology properties differed significantly. As a result of this study, it is possible to state that uncontrolled grazing with sheep gives more damage to vegetation and related resources than uncontrolled grazing with cattle in highland steppe rangelands where short grasses are dominated. But forbs of sheep taken under pressure should not be ignored. In conclusion, for sustainable use of steppe rangeland, providing suitable grazing season and grazing capacity, sheep and cattle herds can graze as mixture.

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The aim of this study was to determine the response of Dactylis glomerata L. (Orchardgrass) and Festuca ovina L. (Sheep fescue), to bovine saliva application in a loamy soil (most fertile), a sandy loam and a sandy soil (least fertile). The effects of cutting and cutting + saliva on relative height growth rate (RHGR), above- and belowground biomass and forage quality attributes [crude protein, NDF (neutral detergent fibre) and ADF (acid detergent fibre)] were investigated. The results showed that the cutting and cutting + saliva treatments resulted in greater RHGR than the control, but only with D. glomerata in the sandy soil did the application of saliva increase the RHGR. However, saliva applied after cutting increased the aboveground biomass averaged over all species and all three soils. Saliva applied to D. glomerata increased the belowground biomass in the sandy loam and sandy soils but decreased it in F. ovina in the sandy soil. The application of saliva had no effect on the crude protein or the NDF content of either species in any of the soils. On the other hand, the application of saliva after clipping increased the ADF of F. ovina but decreased that of D. glomerata averaged over all three soils. Averaged over both species, the ADF was increased by the addition of saliva in the sandy soil, had no significant effect in the sandy loam (P > 0.05) and was slightly increased in the loam.

Plant community responses to environmental changes depend upon management strategies, climate, topography, and time. The objective herein was to determine canopy coverage and botanical changes in Turkish highland rangelands with different topographical characteristics between 1993 and 2013. Trends in the plant composition changed depending on the slope aspect (compass direction) and topography. The contribution of the grasses to the canopy decreased, while that of legumes and the other families increased. The results indicated that rangeland degradation occurred under uncontrolled grazing conditions. Suitable range management changes are recommended for the conservation of natural resources in the highland rangelands of Turkey.

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The interest in the use of biofertilizer as alternative to mineral fertilizer increase continuously due to increasing mineral fertilizer cost and heavy metal accumulation in the soil such as cadmium.The objective of this study was to assess the effects of four biofertilizer (N 2 -fixing, P-solubilizing, N 2 fixing-P solubilizing, commercial biofertilizer) with and without mineral phosphorus fertilizer on yield and quality of forage pea(Pisumsativum spp. arvense L.). The application of biofertilizeraffected significantly dry matter yield (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and phosphorus contain. The use of mineral fertilizer increased only dry matter yield. The effect of biofertilizer on pea yield and quality varied significantly depending on year. These results indicated that understanding of factors such as biofertilizer, mineral fertilizer and environment will enable us to use biofertilizer as an alternative to mineral fertilizer to optimize productivity and sustainability of pea production.