Evaluation the Current Range Condition in the Semi – arid areas at Eldebeibat area (South Kordofan State) – Sudan

Abstract

The study was conducted at Eldebeibat area in South Kordofan State, which is considered the important part of Semi – arid grazing land in Sudan that used for grazing activity especially during the rainy season. The rangeland were divided into three sites according to soil types namely Clay, sandy and gardud soil. This study aims to evaluate the current Condition of rangelands in the semi – arid areas. For vegetation measurements the Parker loop method (Parker and Hirris, 1959) were used to measure relative plants composition and ground cover of the rangeland using transect 100 meter tape and a ¾ loop placed at ground level at one meter intervals. In addition to the quadrate method (Wilm et al, 1944) were used to determine plants frequency%. The questionnaires were designed for the two targeted group (mobile pastoralists and sedentary groups). The standard equations of vegetation measurements were used for plant attribute data analyzes, and the statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze socio-economic data. The results show different plant attributes at the three sites, the sandy site recorded highest plant composition followed by clay soil while the lowest plant compositions was recorded at gardud soil in two grazing seasons. Clay site was dominated by Schoenfeldia gracilis, sandy site was dominated by Zornia glochidiata, while gardud site was dominated by Vossia cuspidata in the two seasons. Plant cover percentage at the three sites was low for the two rainy seasons; gardud site scored the highest percentage of bare soil for two seasons. The pastoralists confirmed that some species were found in all sites in the grazing areas such as Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Echinochloa colona and Ipomea spp, also sedentary people stated that some species were found around their villages such as Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Zornia glochidiata, Cenchrus spp, Sida cordofolia and Eragrostis spp. some species disappeared at the grazing areas, while some plant species appeared according to the investigation of two groups. The results also showed that the new species invaded the area, most of them were consider unpalatable for livestock grazing. The phenomenon of range land deterioration was very clear since the invader plants species were represented in three soil types