Effect of Sowing Some Range Species on the Production of Desertified Rangelands in Sinnar State/ Sudan*

This paper had been presented for promotion at the university of Khartoum. To get the full text please contact the other at Abusuwar @ yahoo.comA study was conducted at Elsuki site, 50kms south of Sinnar town at the east bank of the Blue Nile, for two seasons (2005/06 and 2006/07) to evaluate the effect of some management practices on desertified rangelands at Sinnar State under rainfed conditions. The design used was complete randomized block design with six replicates. The pasture species were two leguminous pastures (Rhynchosia memnonia and Zornia gluchidiata), and two grasses (Barachiaria lata and Cenchrus ciliaris). Each replicate was divided into (10×40 m) plots, and the pasture species were assigned randomly to the plots. Measurement of plant density, composition, ground cover, frequency, forage quality and forage yield were carried out. Soil pH, EC, N, P, Ca, K, Mg, HCO3, CO3, and soil silt, clay, and sand contents were determined.Generally, the sown pasture species had no significant effect on total plant density and native species density, the exception was Zornia gluchidiata which was unable to compete with other species and completely disappeared after one month. The highest plant composition and frequency was recorded for Barachiaria lata, Sorghum spp and Rhynchosia memnonia. Treatments had no significant effect on ground cover and soil analysis attributes. The highest crude protein % was scored by Rhynchosia memnonia, Treatments had no significant effect on ground cover and soil analysis attributes