Journal of Rangeland

Saline areas and marginal rangelands of some playas in Iran have important role to supply forage for livestock. This study was conducted to compare forage quality of four native halophyte and salt tolerant species including: Atriplex verruciferum, Halocnemum strobilaceum, Haloxylon persicum and Nitraria schoberi, collected from Meighan saline rangelands near Arak (Markazi province). Edible parts of aerial biomass of the species were collected in three phonological stages (vegetative growth, full flowering and seed ripening). Forage quality indices such as Crude Protein (CP), Dry Matter Digestibility (DMD), Dry Matter Intake (DMI), Metabolizable Energy (ME), Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF), Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) and Phosphorus (P) contents of the plant samples were measured. The results showed that the forage quality were different significantly between the species and various phonological stages (p <0.01). According to Duncan mean separation test, the interaction effects of phonological stages and plant species on quality indices were also significant. In most of species, the CP, DMD and ME were decreased with progressing phonological stages while ADF and NDF increased. Nitraria schoberi had the highest CP (32.42%) in vegetative stage while Haloxylon persicum had the lowest CP (11.06%) in seed ripening stage. The Relative Feeding Values of Nitraria schoberi  and Atriplex verruciferum were exhibited the highest and lowest values respectively (RFV=529.77 versus RFV=217.4).  Overall results indicated that, although the forage qualities of these halophytes species are promising, supplementary feeding especially phosphorus is required for livestock feeding.