COMPARISON ON ALLOWABLE USE OF Artemisia sieberi IN SEMI-STEPPE AND ARID RANGELANDS OF IRAN

Current research was conducted in the selected sites of arid and semi-steppe vegetative regions including Tabas (Yazd) and Til-Abad (Gholestan), respectively. Artemisia sieberi is a key and palatable species, having a considerable portion in rangelands production. For this purpose, 40 similar bases of Artemisia sieberi were selected in each site. Selected bases were exposed to different harvesting intensities of 25, 50 and 75%, and 0% as control group. Data were analyzed by SPSS and MSTATC, and Duncan’s Multiple Range Test was used for mean comparisons. According to the results, a significant difference (P<0.01) was found for the production among different years of study in semi-steppe vegetative region. Our results showed that harvesting intensities of 25% and 50% could be recommended as the best allowable use of Artemisia sieberi in semi-steppe and arid vegetative regions, respectively.