Studying the effect of grazing on soil physicochemical properties in a summer rangeland (case study: Zagheh Rangeland, Lorestan Province)

Heavy exploitation is a major cause of degradation and destruction of rangelands. Rangeland overgrazing by livestock destroyed vegetation and cause bare soil which exposed to erosion. To studying the effect of grazing on physicochemical properties of soil, a study was conducted at Zagheh research station located in Lorestan province. For this purpose, in both grazed and protected area, 10 soil samples was done based on randomized systematic method from 0 to 30 cm soil depth which transferred to the laboratory. In laboratory soil properties such as soil texture, bulk density, total nitrogen, the C / N, P, K, lime, acidity (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), were measured. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software. The statistical results showed that soil texture and soil pH was not significantly affected by grazing. However the bulk density, organic carbon, total nitrogen, the C/N ratio, P, K, lime and electrical conductivity (EC) significantly affected by grazing.