Volume 110, November 2014, Pages 8–11
- Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, Sevilla 41080, Spain
- Received 8 April 2013, Revised 28 May 2014, Accepted 2 June 2014, Available online 21 June 2014
Highlights
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- The addition of secondary agro-industrial by-products increased rosemary browsing.
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- The phytovolume loss was significantly higher in individuals impregnated with salt.
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- Salt treatment was associated with a significant reduction in biomass.
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- Whey and salt treatments promoted a decrease in biomass classified as most flammable.
Abstract
Current
techniques to reduce the cover of highly flammable plant communities
are expensive and often contravene current environmentally friendly
policies. Livestock browsing is a less aggressive and/or less expensive
alternative for controlling shrub encroachment and reducing the risk of
forest fires. We evaluated the effect of direct application of two
secondary agro-industrial by-products (goat whey and salt from the
Iberian ham manufacturing process) on browsing of rosemary by goats.
Following application of each treatment, the phytovolume, total biomass,
fine fuel biomass and branch biomass of rosemary plants were
calculated. Addition of by-products increased browsing of rosemary by
goats. The effect on phytovolume and accumulated biomass loss was lower
in the whey treatment than in the salt treatments. This decrease was
influenced by changes in the fine fuel category values, which were lower
in the treated individuals than in the control individuals. Untreated
rosemary plants showed no evidence of browsing. The addition of both
agro-industrial by-products significantly increased the extent of
browsing in treated rosemary and thus reduced the total accumulated
biomass (mainly the most flammable parts of the plant).
Keywords
- Doñana Natural Park;
- Fire breaks;
- Goats;
- Rosmarinus officinalis;
- Salt;
- Whey
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+34 954557066; fax: +34 954626308.
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