Ebook: Halophytes as a resource for livestock and for rehabilitation of degraded lands

Desertification (land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting mainly from adverse human impacts) is the main environmental problem of dry lands, which occupy more than 40 per cent of the total global land area. The phenomenon threatens about 3.6 billion hectares and currently affects the livelihood of about 900 million people. Thl! world is now losing annually about 1.5 million hectares of total irrigated lands (240 million hectares) due mostly to salinization, mainly in drylands. Salt affected soils are widely distributed throughout the arid and semi-arid regions, and particularly severe in China (7 million ha), India (20 million ha), Pakistan (3.2 million ha), USA (5.2 million ha), as well as Near East, southern Europe and elsewhere. Demands on production have increased the pressure on existing productive land and moved the limits of production onto increasingly marginal lands. Wise land-use practices have yet to be developed for such conditions. The Executive Director of UNEP reported to the Governing Council in February 1992 concerning the "Status of Desertification and Implementation of the United Nations Plan of Action to Comtat Desertification (PACD)". The Report concludes that major efforts to implement the PACD had gJne into supporting measures rather than concrete corrective field operations. Little evidence of progrl!ss was found in irrigated croplands, rainfed croplands or rangelands. It was recommended that every piece of land should be used in keeping with its ecological characteristics, natural capabilities and constraints.

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Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiv
Overview of problems and prospects for utilizing halophytes as a resource for livestock and for rehabilitation of degraded lands....Pages 1-6
Global distribution and potential for halophytes....Pages 7-17
Salt affected soils as the ecosystem for halophytes....Pages 19-24
Use of halophyte forages for rehabilitation of degraded lands....Pages 25-41
Utilization of halophytic plants for fodder production with brackish water in subtropic deserts....Pages 43-75
Halophytes in mixed feeds for livestock....Pages 77-96
Halophytic shrubs in semi-arid regions of Australia....Pages 97-100
Halophytes and halophytic plant communities in Inner-Asia....Pages 101-113
Forage halophytes and salt-tolerant fodder crops in the Mediterranean Basin....Pages 115-122
Halophytes and halophytic plant communities in the Arab region....Pages 123-137
North American halophytes: Potential use in animal husbandry....Pages 139-163
Halophytes as a resource for livestock husbandry in South America....Pages 165-174
Halophytic coastal marsh vegetation in East Africa....Pages 175-199
Halophytes of the Indian desert-communities of the various ‘ranns’....Pages 201-210
Banni grassland and halophytes....Pages 211-215
Potentials for cultivation of halophytic crops on saline wastelands and sandy deserts in Pakistan to overcome feed gap for grazing animals....Pages 217-222
Forage production from salt-affected and water-logged areas in Punjab, Pakistan: A case study....Pages 223-230
Prospects for saltbush (Atriplex spp.) as animal feed in irrigated and marginal lands in Sudan....Pages 231-234
Halophytes and desertification control in Iraq....Pages 235-237
Feed value of some halophytic range plants of arid regions of Iran....Pages 239-248
Use of edible shrubs in pasture improvement under Mediterranean environment in northern Syria....Pages 249-253
The potential economic use of halophytes for agricultural development of southern Morocco....Pages 255-258
Production from grazing sheep on revegetated saltland in Western Australia....Pages 259-261
Impact of halophytes on animal health and nutrition....Pages 263-265
Small ruminant feeding trials on the Arabian peninsula with Salicornia bigelovii Torr.....Pages 267-272
Effect of feeding Atriplex amnicola on growth and carcass quality of dwarf goats....Pages 273-276
Halophytes as animal feeds in Egyptian deserts....Pages 277-280
Massive propagation of halophytes (Distichlis spicata and Tamarix spp.) on the highly saline-alkaline soils in the ex-Lake Texcoco, Mexico....Pages 281-284
Vetiver grass, its potential in the stabilisation and rehabilitation of degraded saline land....Pages 285-288
Some features of salt tolerance in Senna (Cassia acutifolia), in Sudan....Pages 289-292
Characterization of progeny clones belonging to natural Sicilian Atriplex halimus populations....Pages 293-296
Back Matter....Pages 297-301
....Pages 303-310