Determining suitable grazing time for Puccinella distans Parl. based on its phenology in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran

Abstract

Studying the phenology, which is an important issue of plants, can be used for determining the best time of all kinds of utilizations, and also conservation and stability of plants' growth and breeding will result. Therefore, this study was performed in Tezkharab rangelands, where Puccinella distans is an important vegetative element that is consumed by livestock, to determine the suitable grazing time for this plant based on its phenology, for about a 4-year period (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010). For this purpose, plant phenology and changes in its growth characteristics were investigated weekly. Moreover, during this period, all phenological stages were adjusted to the monthly precipitation and temperature. The results indicated that the time of phenological stages had fluctuations which were related to environmental conditions. The best time to start grazing is early May and the best time for collecting the seeds of this species is late