Effects of Euphorbia nubica Encroachment on Herbaceous Species Composition in Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in three districts of Borana Zone towards the end of the growing season, with the objective of examining the effects of encroaching Euphorbia nubica species on their encroached and non-encroached areas of herbaceous species composition in Borana rangelands and analysis the perception of pastoralist on encroaching of Euphorbia nubica species. A survey was conducted from two PA of each district by interviewed 34 pastoralists from each PA and a total 204 households were interviewed purposively to analysis pastoralist perceptions. Also, 20 m x 20 m main plots were laid out in encroached and non-encroached areas of Euphorbia nubica species. Then four sub-quadrants with 1 m x 1 m size were randomly placed in this main plot to determine herbaceous composition. The collected data was analyzed using General Linear Model (GLM) procures for significance test at an alpha level of 0.05, and the least significant differences test was used for mean separation for comparison of impacts of encroaching species. As Pastoralists’ perception, Euphorbia nubica species are less important and increased in the rangelands by reducing rangeland production and productivity. In this study, the proportion of basal and litter cover was significantly different (P < 0.05) between non-encroached and encroached areas of Euphorbia nubica species. Also, grass and forbs of dry matter and diversity were significant (P < 0.05) among encroached and non-encroached areas of Euphorbia nubica species. Both pastoral perception and analyzed results indicate that the encroachment of Euphorbia nubica species has an impact on rangeland productivity by reducing productive grass species and increasing less desirable forbs species. Keywords: Encroached, Non-encroached, Grass, non-grass and dry matter yield DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/13-12-01 Publication date: June 30 th 2022