Estimating Plant Biomass by Using Non-Destructive Parameters in Arid Regions (Case Study: Inche-Broun Winter Rangelands, Golestan, Iran)

Plant biomass is an important factor for determining arid and semi-aridrangelands capacity. Due to the lack of proper and annual sampling of rangelands, there areno suitable data to determine biomass, range condition and proper range managementoperations. Plant biomass is one of the measurable attributes that can be assessed inrangeland studies. Since the clip and weight method is destructive and time-consuming,green biomass was estimated by using dimensional parameters (Plant Allometry) includingcanopy cover, length and width of diameters. Field sampling was done using seventy 2×2m quadrats along five 100 m transects. The data were analyzed by stepwise regression. Theresults showed that the fresh and dry biomass showed significant positive correlations withcanopy cover, the length and width of diameters of Halocnemum strobilaceum shrub(p