The Impact of Continuous Grazing on Natural Rangeland in Alazzazah area- Blue Nile State, Sudan

This study was conducted in Alzzazah area which lies approximately 25 km East of El-Dmazein city, the capital of the Blue Nile State, Sudan. This study was carried out at the end of the autumn 2015. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impacts of continuous grazing on the rangeland of the study area. To determine this effect, two range sites were selected to represent the rangeland in the study area; a grazed one and a protected one by enclosure. At each site, eight line transects were systematicly distributed. Parker loop method was used to determine botanical composition and ground cover. Quadrate method was applied to determine plant density, frequency, biomass production and carrying capacity. The obtained data were organized and analyzed using standard range management equations and SAS statistical package. The result showed that the continuous grazing increased the bare soil percentage and decreased the vegetation cover. Also, it had negative impacts on botanical composition, biomass productivity and range carrying capacity. It was concluded that continuous grazing has a negative impact; it led to change the botanical composition of range plants of undesirable species with low nutritive value. So it can be considered as one of the main factors responsible of rangeland degradation in the study area.