Palatability status of the Flora of Koh-e-Safaid Range Upper Kurram Valley, Khyber PakhtunKhwa North West Pakistan

Abstract

Background: The current study was carried out in Upper Kurram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan from 2015 to 2019. Grazing is the most common of the land uses by domestic and wild animals. Grazing is the most significant biotic stress in terrestrial ecosystem after the fire factor. Objectives: Objectives of the study were; to find out the Palatability status of the Flora of Koh-e-Safaid Range Upper Kurram Valley, KP Pakistan; to record the flora of grazing and browsing livestock preferences in the field. Methodology: The palatability of plant species was recorded by observing the grazing livestock in the field. Cattle were visually observed to determine their preferences. All the information’s were confirmed from local elders. Palatable species were categorized into Highly Palatable (HP), Mostly Palatable (MP), Less Palatable (LP), Rarely Palatable (RP) and Non-Palatable (NP). Results: The current study reported five palatability classes based on their utilization by animals. Highest number of plants fell under the group of highly palatable plants 261 (39.90%) which includes Cynodon dactylon, Dicanthium annulatum, Medicago sativa and Rubus fruticosus. The number of mostly palatable plants were 148 (22.62%) such as Alopecurus agrestis, Brachiaria ramosa, Gagea reticulata, Melica persica, Polypogon viridis. The number of rarely palatable plants were 73 (11.16%) such as Allium griffithianum, Achyranthes aspera, Alteranthera pungens, and Dioscorea deltoidea, while 27 (4.12%) plants were observed less palatable such as Coronopus didymus, Carthamus oxyacantha and Ranunculus afghanicus. A total of 145 (22.17%) plants were observed as non-palatable of which Abies pindrow, Agave americana, Alajja rhomboidea, Cedrus deodara and Hertia intermedia were significant among the non-palatable species. Conclusions: Various factors impact the palatability of plants in different localities of the world. These factors include morphology, phenology, minerals and secondary metabolites in a plant. Like most herbivores, it preferred smaller leaves with a smaller specific leaf area and a higher dry matter content in the leaf. Phenological changes associated with climate change are related to the seasonal availability and palatability of food plants. The presence of minerals like Ca, Mg and K, Fe, Mn, Mg and Ca in different palatable plants in Kurram indicates the reason for their palatable condition. Secondary metabolites such as glycosides, alkaloids, nitrates and others such as oxalate, lectins and tannins have an adverse effect on the taste of plants. Result and Discussion Study on the plant palatability revealed that 261(39.90%) out of 654 plants were highly palatable, 148 (22.62%) plants were mostly palatable, 73 (11.16%) plants were rarely palatable, 27 (4.12%) plants were less palatable, and 145 plants were non palatable as shown in (Table 1). In the field, animal first choice may be recorded by direct observation of what is being eaten or by a calculation of the progressive consumption of the plants themselves (Palkova and Leps 2008). Palatability is positively associated with nitrogen concentration, water content of leaves and negatively correlated with carbon content as well as carbon/nitrogen ratio in aerial parts of plant body (Schuur et al. 2001; Ahmad et al. 2014; Tariq et al. 2015; Zi-Li Yin et al. 2017). Palatability is also influenced by various other features like period, phase of pregnancy, general health, and preference for forage species and appetite of animal (Khan et al. 2012). Various factors impact the palatability of plants in different localities of the world. These factors include morphology, phenology, minerals and secondary metabolites in a plant (Ibrar 2003; Hussain and Durrani 2009; Khan and Hussain 2012). Herbivores preferred smaller leaves with lower specific leaf area and higher leaf dry matter content. Climate change related shifts in phenology are correlated with the seasonal availability and The grazing stress helps the species richness of non-palatable species of an area. Due to over grazing some non-palatable plants is preferred to be consumed (Gorade and Datar 2014). Reduced palatability of plants by livestock is often due to presence of chemicals such as volatile oils, spines, hairs, rigidity, rough texture, bad odor and poor taste. A total of 412 plants were eaten fresh by the livestock. Livestock utilized a bulk of 190 plants in dry condition while 85 species were eaten in fresh as well as dry. Phenology affects the palatability of plants, and it is a common observation for most of the plants that the older they get the less palatable, they become. It is mainly due to the decreasing moisture content in plants with age (Ibrahim et al. 2015). A total of 396 species were consumed by cows, 278 species by horses, 263 species by donkeys, 502 by goats and 493 by sheep in Upper Kurram. The shepherds take sheep to pastures during the spring and summer season where 346 species were observed to be grazed and browsed. Results for animal preferences with similar nature are reported by (Angasa and Baars 2001; Hussain and Durrani 2008; Milewski and Madden 2006; Sultan et al. 2009). In the field, animal first choice may be recorded by direct observation of what is being eaten or by a calculation of the progressive consumption of the plants themselves (Palkova and Leps 2008). Palatability is positively associated with nitrogen concentration, water content of leaves and negatively correlated with carbon content as well as carbon/nitrogen ratio in aerial parts of plant body (Schuur et al. 2001; Ahmad et al. 2014; Tariq et al. 2015; Zi-Li Yin et al. 2017). Palatability is also influenced by various other features like period, phase of pregnancy, general health, and preference for forage species and appetite of animal (Khan et al. 2012). Various factors impact the palatability of plants in different localities of the world. These factors include morphology, phenology, minerals and secondary metabolites in a plant (Ibrar 2003; Hussain and Durrani 2009). Like most herbivores, it preferred smaller leaves with a smaller specific leaf area and a higher dry matter content in the leaf. Phenological changes associated with climate change are related to the seasonal availability and palatability of food plants. The presence of minerals like Ca, Mg and K, Fe, Mn, Mg and Ca in different palatable plants in Kurram indicates the reason for their palatable condition. Secondary metabolites such as glycosides, alkaloids, nitrates and others such as oxalate, lectins and tannins have an adverse effect on the taste of plants. Woody plants have the ability to increase soil nutrients concentration and can influence the quality of forbs by improving dry matter digestibility and nitrogen contents in the leaves. Phenological aspects of the plants may affect the palatability of plants by animals due to accumulation and concentration of certain elements (Miller and Thompson 2005; Gunasekran et al. 2014). Reviewing of literature confirmed that the elemental concentrations increases or decreases in different phenological stages plant species (Milewski and Madden, 2006). Some grazing animals prefer to consume a plant in its fresh form while others in dry form due to presence of different natural products and morphological adaptation (Ibrahim et al. 2015; Hussain et al. 2016). Conclusion Study on the plant palatability revealed that 261 plants were highly palatable, 148 plants were mostly palatable, 73 plants were rarely palatable, 27 plants were less palatable, and 145 plants were non palatable. The mineral concentration was greatly affected during various phonological stages of plants and hence the presences of different concentrations of minerals were correlated to their palatability. From this study, it was observed that palatability does not only depend on plant species, but also depend on different factors such as animal type, plant habit, plant morphology, phenology, minerals composition, seasonal type, area habitat and weather. Like most herbivores, it preferred smaller leaves with a smaller specific leaf area and a higher dry matter content in the leaf. Phenological changes associated with climate change are related to the seasonal availability and palatability of food plants. The presence of minerals like Ca, Mg and K, Fe, Mn, Mg and Ca in different palatable plants in Kurram indicates the reason for their palatable condition. Secondary metabolites such as glycosides, alkaloids, nitrates and others such as oxalate, lectins and tannins have an adverse effect on the taste of plants. It is suggested that plant palatability should conform to the basis of elemental and nutritional value of plant species and also the animal food requirement in support of improving physical condition and output of domestic animals in the region.