Abstract
The modern use of plain pastures in the Caspian Sea region is accompanied by deflation outbreaks affecting light soils; as a result, barkhan sands and slightly overgrown hilly sands are formed and the resistance of natural forage lands to deflation decreases. In the past century, afforestation amelioration was applied to such sands in dry subhumid areas of the Nogai steppe and they were transformed into silvopastoral lands with strip, narrow-belt, and diffuse layouts of the tree storey. The most commonly used afforestation amelioration technique involved the creation of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila L.) plantings and facilitation of their natural expansion. Silvopastoral lands form nontraditional, environmentally capacious, and sustainable landscapes that are attractive both as pastures for domestic animals and as wildlife habitats. This paper presents data on the state of forest stands, their productivity, structure, and nutritional value of forage produced on silvopastoral lands created on the Bazhigan sand massif and used for many years for unregulated grazing of bovine and small cattle. The studies were conducted in 2018–2021 using methods commonly accepted in forest inventory and geobotany. It has been established that at the age of 20–35 years, Siberian elm and black locust stands reach a height of 5.5–12.0 m and effectively protect soils from deflation and animals from overheating, and produce extra forage. Forage reserves in silvopastoral lands consist of grasses (mainly ephemerals) growing under the tree canopy, available woody greens whose nutritional value is not inferior to the nutritional value of predominant species in grass stands of natural pastures, and grazing phytomass in open areas. The total soil-feeding capacity of silvopastoral lands is up to 6 times higher than the soil-feeding capacity of natural pastures; furthermore, it is less dependent on weather conditions and makes it possible to increase the safe pasture load, grazing livestock numbers, and efficiency of grazing animal husbandry by 2–3 times. Taking the scientifically substantiated bovine cattle (BC) feed consumption norms per 1 kg of gain, on average, 100 ha of silvopastoral lands make it possible to additionally gain some 5 t of beef or an income of 750 000 rubles (at 2021 values).
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Anuchin, N.P., Lesnaya taksatsiya (Forest Inventory), Moscow: Lesnaya Promushlennost’, 1971.
Bitvinskas, T.T., Dendroklimaticheskie issledovaniya (Dendroclimatic Research), Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1974.
Braun–Blanquet, J., Pflanzensociologie, Wien-New York: Springer, 1964.
Bulakhtina, G.K., Kudryashov, A.V., and Kudryashova, N.I., Comparative studies of agrophytocenoses of different composition in the arid zone of the Northern Caspian, Vestnik Mariiskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriya: Sel’skokhozyaistvennye Nauki. Ekonomicheskie Nauki, 2018, vol. 4, no. 2 (14), pp. 9–17.
Cherepanov, S.K., Vascular Plants of Russia and Adjacent States (The Former USSR), Cambrige University Press, Cambridge, 2007.
Dedova, E.B., Gol’dvarg, B.A., and Tsagan–Mandzhiev, N.L., Land degradation of the Republic of Kalmykia: Problems and restoration ways, Aridnye Ekosistemy, 2020, vol. 26, no. 2 (83), pp. 63–71.
Djanibekov, U., Khamzina, A., Djanibekov, N., and Lamers, J. P. A., How attractive are short–term CDM forestations in arid regions? The case of irrigated croplands in Uzbekistan, Forest Policy and Economics, 2012, no. 21, pp. 108–117.
Fedorova, N.L., Caspian desert botanical diversity within the Black Land, Vestnik Instituta Kompleksnykh Issledovanii Aridnykh Territorii, 2011, no. 1, pp. 108–116.
Issledovaniya struktury i stroeniya rastitel’nogo pokrova (Studies of the Structure and Formation of the Vegetation Cover), Roryshin, N.I, Ed., Leningrad: Leningrad. Univ., 1973.
Kulik, K.N., Agrolesomeliorativnoe kartografirovanie i fitoekologicheskaya otsenka aridnykh landshaftov (Agroforestmeliorative Mapping and Phytoecological Evaluation of Arid Landscapes), Volgograd: Vseross. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Agrolesomelior., 2004.
Kulik, K.N. and Petrov, V.I., Ancient foci of deflation on the Black Lands and their possible phytomelioration, Arid. Ekosist., 1999, vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 57–64.
Kulik, K.N., Barabanov, A.T., and Manaenkov, A.S., Strategiya razvitiya zashchitnogo lesorazvedeniya v Rossiiskoi federatsii na period do 2020 goda (Strategy for the Development of Protective Afforestation in the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2020), Volgograd: Vseross. Nauchno–Issled. Inst. Agrolesomelior., 2008.
Kulik, K.N., Petrov, V.I., Rulev, A.S., Kosheleva, O.Yu., and Shinkarenko, S.S., On the 30th anniversary of the “General Plan to Combat Desertification of Black Lands and Kizlyar Pastures,” Arid Ecosyst., 2018, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1–6.
Kulik, K.N., Manaenkov, A.S., and Esmagulova, B.Zh., Forest pasture reclamation in the dry zone of the Russian Federation and the ways to increase its efficiency, Izvestiya Nizhnevolzhskogo Agrouniversitetskogo Kompleksa: Nauka i Vysshee Professional’noe Obrazovanie, 2021, no. 3 (63), pp. 30–40.
Kulik, N.F., The main regularities of the water regime of the Tersko-Kuma sands in connection with their afforestation and economic development, in Sbornik trudov po osvoeniyu Tersko–Kumskikh peskov (Collected Scientific Papers on the Development of the Tersko-Kuma Sands), Stavropol’: Stavropol’skoe Knizhnoe Izd., 1963, no. 1, pp. 19–47.
Manaenkov, A.S., Restoration of deserted pastures in the Black Lands, Lesn. Khoz., 1993, no. 6, pp. 33–36.
Manaenkov, A.S., Lesomeliroatsiya aren zasushlivoi zony (Forest Melioration of Arid Zones), Volgograd: Vseross. Nauchno-Issled. Agrolesomelor. Inst., 2018, 2nd ed.
Manaenkov, A.S. and Kostin, M.V., Increase in efficiency of afforestation in the southern steppes of the country, Lesokhozyaistvennaya Informatsiya, 2017, no. 3, pp. 92–102.
Manaenkov, A.S. and Rybashlykova, L.P., Increasing the efficiency of plant-cover restoration in the modern focus of deflation on pastures of the northwestern Caspian Region, Arid Ecosyst, 2020, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 358–367.
Manaenkov, A.S., Surkhaev, G.A., and Surkhaev, I.G., Features of afforestation of sandy lands with pine cultures in the Tersko-Kuma interfluve area, Lesn. Khoz., 2010, no. 5, pp. 36–38.
Mattis, G.Ya., Pavlovskii, E.S., Kalashnikov, A.F., Savel’eva, L.S., Torokhtun, I.M., Zykov, I.G., Ivonin, V.M., Verbitskii, I.K., Kryukova, E.A., Kas’yanov, F.M., Tribunskaya, V.M., Kulik, N.F., Shcheblanov, V.Yu., Zyuz’, N.S., Abakumov, B.A., Stepanov, A M., Terekhin, S.V., Khoroshavin, V.N., Zhdanov, Yu.M., Babenko, D.K., and Tarasyuk, V.N., Spravochnik agrolesomelioratora (Handbook of Agroforestry), Moscow: Lesnaya Promyshlnnost’, 1984.
Nkonya, E., Mirzabaev, A., and von Braun, J., Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development, Springer International Publishing AG, 2016.
Petrov, K.M., Bananova, V.A., Lazareva, V.G., and Unagaev, A.S., Regional features of the global process of desertification in the North-Western Caspian, Biosfera, 2016, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 49–62.
Petrov, V.I., Forest reclamation of arid territories, in Agrolesomeliorativnaya nauka v XX veke (Agroforestry Reclamation Science in the XX Century), Volgograd: Vseross. Nauchno–Issled. Inst. Agrolesomelior, 2001, pp. 162–198.
Petrov, V.I., Forest-agrarian exploration of Black Lands and adjacent territories, in Materialy nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii (Proc. Sci.-Pract. Conf.), Stavropol’–Pyatigorsk, 2003, pp. 41–46.
Radochinskaya, L.P., Preservation of species and population biodiversity in the forest pastures of Black Lands as a factor of environmental stability in the region, Puti Povysheniya Effektivnosti Oroshaemogo Zemledeliya, 2017, no. 3 (67), pp. 161–167.
Radochinskaya, L.P., Kladiev, A.K., and Rybashlykova, L.P. Production potential of restored pastures of the Northwestern Caspian, Arid Ecosyst., 2019, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 51–58.
Smirnov N.A. 1963. Sand-reinforcing forest belts and plantings, in Lesnye zashchitnye nasazhdeniya (Forest Protective Plantings), Moscow: Izd. Sel’skokhoz. Literatury, Zhurnalov i Plakatov, 1963, pp. 193–232.
Vdovenko, A.V., Restoration of disturbed ecosystems of Chernozemel’sk and Kizlyar pastures, Nauchno–Agronomicheskii Zhurnal, 2016, no. 1, pp. 25–29.
Yazan, P. G., Tersko–Kumskie peski, ikh zakreplenie i ispol’zovanie v sel’skom i lesnom khozyaistve (Terek-Kuma Sands, Their Consolidation and Use in Agriculture and Forestry), Grozny: Groznenskoe Knizhnoe Izd., 1955.
Zvolinskii, V.P. and Smirnov, I.I., Adaptive agriculture as a basis for combating desertification and rational use of agricultural land in the Caspian region, in Materialy nauchno–prakticheskoi konferentsii po obshchemu zemledeliyu (Proc. Sci.-Pract. Conf. on General Agriculture), Barnaul, 2000, pp. 46–49.
Funding
This study was performed as part of the State Assignment, project no. 122020100309-0 (Theoretical Foundations, Basic Principles, and Technologies for Increasing the Efficiency of Protective Afforestation and Integrated Phytomelioration on Degraded, Disturbed, and Marginal Lands in the Arid Zone of Russia).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Translated by L. Emeliyanov
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Manaenkov, A.S., Rybashlykova, L.P., Sivtseva, S.N. et al. Silvopastoral Transformation of Desert Lands in the Caspian Sea Region. Arid Ecosyst 13, 11–19 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096123010080
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096123010080