Ability of mountain rangelands in Marghevar region of Urmia for dual-purpose grazing and exploitation of medicinal plants

Multipurpose use of rangelands is one of the new challenges facing rangeland users, according to which grazing pressure in rangelands can be reduced and an important step can be taken to increase the welfare and empowerment of rangelands, preserve ecosystems and improve ecosystem services related to them. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the capability of mountain rangelands in the Marghevar region of Urmia, for dual-purpose grazing and exploitation of medicinal plants. For this purpose, in the growing season of 2019-2020, from the vegetation of each of the plant types of the studied customary system, inside 60 plots of two square meters that were located at a distance of 10 meters from each other, along six transects of 100 meters, was counted. In each plot, the percentage of canopy cover and species density as ecological indicators were measured by estimation and counting. The amount of forage production of grazing species and medicinal organs of each medicinal plant was estimated by cutting, weighing or harvesting underground organs. Economic rent and expected value for each hectare of habitats (plant types) from the place of exploitation of medicinal plants and fodder were calculated as economic indicators. The desirability of marketability and the tendency to harvest medicinal plants were also extracted from the questionnaire studies under the title of social indicators. Physical characteristics of each plant type and information related to soil erosion were also extracted from maps in previous studies. In the next step, based on the proposed instructions (MSSG and MSMP) and based on the total scores of each indicator; the degree of suitability of plant types for grazing uses of sheep and exploitation of medicinal plants was determined to classes S1, S2, S3 and N. Then, by comparing the suitability class of plant types for the use of medicinal plants and their suitability class for livestock grazing, a decision was made regarding the priority of dual-use pastures. Overall; 77% of the rangelands in the region have a good suitability for grazing livestock with the use of medicinal plants, 10.7% have a medium suitability, 0.9% have a low suitability and 3.3% are not suitable in this regard. The results suggest that not all plant types are suitable for medicinal plants. This issue should be considered in the policies related to the harvesting of medicinal plants from rangelands, in multi-purpose rangeland management plans, and the use of medicinal plants should be issued, taking into account the suitability of the rangeland.