Seasonal availability and palatability of native flora of Santh Saroola Kotli Sattian, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

The purpose of this study was to document the palatable indigenous flora of Santh Saroola Kotli Sattian, Rawalpindi. A total of 169 plant species belonging to 126 genera and 56 families have been identified during 2009-2010. Of them, 106 species are noted as highly palatable with the percentage of 62.72%, followed by moderately palatable plants (37 species; 21.89%), whereas, only small proportion was found as are less palatable species (26 species; 15.3%). Poaceae family contributed good forage grasses (21 species, 12.42%), followed by Asteraceae (19 species; 11.24%), Fabaceae (15 species; 8.87%), Euphorbiaceae, Lamiaceae (7 species; 4.14% each). With reference to plant parts, leaves were fairly used as fodder/forage purpose (68 species; 41.97%), followed by whole plants (61 species; 37.65%) and aerial parts (33 species; 20.37%). During the month of April, most of the forage was available (110 species; 65.09%), followed by May and March (99 and 96 species, respectively). Maximum species (103 species, 44.98%) were found palatable to all domesticated animals such as goat, sheep, cows and donkey. Goat was found best suited to the climatic conditions which preferred 64 species (60.95%). Sheep was found attached with 34 species (37.87%), whereas, cows alone utilized 24 species (20.12%).


INTRODUCTION
The total land area of Pakistan is 88 million hectare (ha) and about 65% of the area is marked as rangelands.The country is divided into five different ecological zones (Khan and Mohammad, 1987).These rangelands are providing major feed source to the domesticated animals as well as wildlife.Pakistan being an agricultural country has 154.7 million heads of livestock that contribute about 11.3% GDP (Anonymous, 2008a).
Different zones are endowed with peculiar vegetation and unique floral diversity for feeding livestock of the area in question.Therefore, there is need to identify and document this natural plant wealth which serve the livestock of local communities.Previously, few studies were carried out in Pakistan to report native fodder/forage species and their palatability.Wahid (1990) carried a survey and reported that sheep and goats diet comprised 53 to 81% shrubs from different rangelands of Balochistan.Hussain and Mustafa (1995) recorded 131 species of 42 families in pastures of Nasirabad Valley, Hunza, Pakistan during summer season.They reported that 27 species were found to be highly palatable, 68 species moderately palatable, 20 less palatable and 4 species rarely palatable.Seasonal pattern of forage production was evaluated by Omer et al. (2006) who *Corresponding author.E-mail: humairashaheen@yahoo.com, hshaheen@ucdavis.edu,rahmatullahq@yahoo.com.reported that forage species was high during spring in dry temperate rangeland in Northern areas of Pakistan.Likewise, Hussain and Durrani (2009) studied the seasonal availability, palatability and animal preferences of forage plants from Harboi arid rangeland, Kalat, Pakistan.They documented 129 palatable species including 50.4% (65 species) highly palatable, 41.1% (53 species) mostly palatable, 4.65% (6 species) less palatable and 3.87% (5 species) rarely palatable species in the area.Few other studies include that of Hussain and Chughtai (1984), Khan (1996), Hussain andDurrani (2007, 2008).
The study area is recently included in the National Park (Murree-Kotli Sattian-Kahuta National Park) and no study is previously reported in documenting palatable plant species, therefore it was worthwhile to carry out such type of study that can be used in management and planning for fodder species.The purpose of this study was to document the palatable indigenous flora of Santh Saroola Kotli Sattian, Rawalpindi.

Study area
Santh Saroolais located between 33°-04° and 34°-01°north latitude and 72°-38° and 73°-37° east longitude.This is a hilly area and transitional zone in between subtropical to temperate resulting in unique floral biodiversity.The environment of the area is severe in winter and mild in summer.The area receives 990 mm annual rainfall.The temperature ranges were 117-25°F (Anonymous, 2008b).The livelihood of local community is dependent on livestock rearing; therefore there is a trend to increase livestock population.This rangeland is full of nutritious and palatable species of grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees.Keeping in view, it was felt worthwhile to document inventory of palatable species, their seasonal availability and animal preference from the study area.

Seasonal availability of forage species
The whole study area was surveyed from October, 2009 to May, 2010 to document data of forage species.During the period, plant growth of species such as grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees were identified.The biennial and perennial species and their seasonal availability were also noted.

Differential palatability of plant parts and animal preference
The degree of palatability for each plant species was noted in the field and the local people and shepherd involved in livestock keeping were asked.The palatable species were further categorized by animal preference (goats, sheep, cow and camel) and parts grazed (whole plant, leaves, aerial parts, etc.).Based on frequency use, the documented plants were grouped as: 1).Highly palatable (HP), species highly preferred by the most grazing animals; 2) moderately palatable (MP), species with an average likeness by the livestock; 3) Less palatable (LP), species with less preference.Likewise, plants were classified by animal preferences, parts used and seasonal availability.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
During the survey, a total of 169 plant species belonging to 126 genera and 56 families were identified as forage source in the study area (Table 1).The palatability of all species is summarized in Figure 1 which reveals that highest number of species were found highly palatable (106 species; 62.72%), followed by moderately palatable plants (37 species; 21.89%), whereas, only small proportion was found as less palatable species (26 species; 15.3%).
The study area is located in humid climate and forage species were found available in different months.Monthwise data of forage species is provided in Figure 3. Maximum species were available during the month of April (110 species; 65.09%), followed by May (99 species; 58.58%), June (76 species; 44.97%), August (74 species; 43.79%), September (72 species; 42.60%), whereas, December and January months were noted as drier in terms of providing forage to the cattle.During these months, people utilized stored forage for feeding their livestock.In this season, most of the livestock were forced to graze/browse less palatable as well as dried plants.Our results are in agreement with that of Hussain and Durrani (2009) who reported decreased productivity of rangelands during winter in the Harboi rangeland, Kalat (Pakistan).parts and forage preferences by grazing animals.The area was found to have large amount of forage species which are grazed throughout the year.During the dry period, some of the species are harvested and stored for feeding of the domesticated animals, and stored fodder materials are trees and subshurbs.The findings of this study will serve as benchmark for the development of fodder species and their varieties.The study will be helpful to range ecologists for the rehabilitation ofovergrazed areas of this rangeland.Further study is required to evaluate the nutritional composition and mineral status of the reported plant species.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Availability of fodder species through out the year.

Figure 4 .PercentageFigure 5 .
Figure 4. Number of plant species preferred by the domesticated animals.

Table 1 .
Inventory of native flora along with local names, family, part used, palatability, availability and animal preference.

Table 2 .
Contribution of different families in forage flora of Santh Saroola.