An ethnobotanical study of forage plants in Zhuxi County in the Qinba mountainous area of central China

In the Qinba mountainous area of Central China,pig farming has a significant impact on the growth of the rural economy and has substantially increased farmer incomes.Traditional knowledge plays an important role in the selection of forage plant species for pig farming by local people.This study aimed to identify the forage plants used for pig feeding and to catalog indigenous knowledge regarding their use.During 2016 and 2017,ethnobotanical surveys and inventories were conducted in Zhuxi County,Hubei Province,China.Data were collected using semi-structured interviews,key informant reports,free listings,guided field walks,and participatory observations with 77 households in 16 villages in 13 towns/townships.The obtained data were analyzed using a relative frequency citation(RFC)index.Overall,145 wild forage plants from 91 genera and 31 families were recorded.The most cited families were Asteraceae,Polygonaceae,Urticaceae,Amaranthaceae,Fabaceae,Cruciferae,Caryophyllaceae,and Lamiaceae.Whole plants(75.9%)and tender leaves(12.4%)were the most frequently used parts of the plants.Most of the forage plants were herbaceous(88.9%).Almost all forage plants could be collected throughout the year(62.7%).Raw and cooked were the two main preparation methods.The most frequently cited species were Taraxacum mongolicum,Bidens pilosa,Sonchus oleraceus,Pilea verrucosa,and Pilea pumila var.obtusifolia.A total of 14 species were identified as the top forage plants in Zhuxi County based on their RFC values(RFC value greater than 0.5).Local people possess rich traditional knowledge about the utilization and management of forage plants for pig feeding.However,the maintenance of this traditional knowledge may be seriously threatened by changes in pig feeding modes and the lack of successors.Appropriate strategies and action plans have been suggested for the conservation of traditional knowledge associated with biodiversity and the sustainable use of forage species resources.These include 1)taking targeted measures to protect forage resources and associated traditional knowledge;2)strengthening research on the forage plants with the highest RFC values for nutritional value,digestibility,other functions,and ecological status;and 3)enhancing the identification of poisonous forage plants.

Nutrition Analysis of Forage Plants and Foragnig Behavior of Mongolian Gazella

The study on winter food constitution of Mongolian gazella (Procapra gutturosa) was conducted in Hulunbeir grassland(Xinbarhuyou Banner, Hulunbeir League, Inner Mongolia) from spring 1994 to summer 1995. With microhistological analysis technique of feces, 21 plant species were identified to be availlable for Mongolian gazella as forage in winter and their nutritive trait were analyzed. Some foraging behavior of Mongolian gazella were also discribed.

Bacteriological Quality of a Forage Grass (<i>Pennisetum purpureum Schumach</i>) Used in Constructed Wetland Removing Domestic Wastewater Pathogenic Microorganism

Constructed Wetlands (CWs) are an adequate wastewater treatment system with possibility to generate income, in particular by the use of plants of economic interest. However, very few studies deal with the bacteriological quality of plants after wastewater treatment. Thermotolerant coliforms and Sulfite-reducing bacteria were investigated on the above-ground biomass of a species of forage plant (Pennisetum purpureum) as well as their removal in an experimental pilot consisting of four beds, for three months. Two beds were planted and two unplanted beds were used as control. Germs in the wastewater were significantly reduced in both filtrates, with higher removal efficiency of 97.4% for Thermotolerant coliforms and 87.5% for Sulfite-reducing bacteria, in the planted bed. Wastewater treatment resulted in bacteriological contamination of the above-ground plant biomass with a significant decreases in number of germs from 660 to 28 CFU/g (Thermotolerant coliforms) and from 15 to 0 CFU/g (Sulfite-reducing bacteria), when the harvest height increased from the base to the upper end of the plants. However, averages of 305 CFU/g of Thermotolerant coliforms and 5 CFU/g of Sulfite-reducing bacteria were obtained in the above-ground plant biomass which would not present any potential risks for a possible use of the plant biomass as fodder. Thus, the use of forage plant suggests good prospects for upgrading said plants for animal feed.

Classification of plant functional types based on the nutrition traits： a case study on alpine meadow community in the Zoigê Plateau

The ecological concept of Plant Functional Types（PFTs）, which refers to the assemblage of plants with certain functional traits, has been introduced for the study of plant responses to the environment change and human disturbance. Taking the alpine meadow community in the Zoigê Plateau as a study case, this paper classified PFTs in terms of plant nutrition traits. The sequential results are as follows.（1） The main herbages in the Zoigê Plateau included 16 species in 5 families. Among the five families, Cyperaceae vegetation accounted for 81.37%of herbage area in total, while the remaining 4families occupied less than 20%. As for the species,Kobresia setchwanensis Hand.-Maizz. was dominant,accounting for 48.74% of the total area; while the remaining 51.26% was comprised of Polygonum viviparum L., Anaphalis fiavescens Hand.-Mazz.,Stipa aliena Keng and other species.（2） By using the Principal Component Analysis（PCA）, the assessment of herbages nutrition was carried out based on the comprehensive multi-index evaluation model.Polygonum viviparum L. had the highest nutritional value score（1.43）, and Stipa aliena Keng had the lowest（-1.40）. Nutritional value of herbage species had a significantly positive correlation with altitude（P＆lt;0.01） in the Zoigê Plateau.（3） Based on the nutritional values, herbages in the Zoigê Plateau could be grouped into 3 nutrition PFTs（high, medium and low） by using the Natural Breaks（Jenks） method.

Winter Foraging Plants of Domestic Sheep in Hulunbeir Grassland

Winter food constitution and favorite level of domestic sheep were studied with the microhistological analysis technique of feces in Hulunbeir Grassland. some problems were inquired into, such as the quality state of local herbage resource, improvement of pasture, rational use of herbage, etc. The results showed that the staple food of domestic sheep in winter was Gramineae, which made up 73.3 percent of the total foraging species. Fabaceae was second, 11.6 per cent. Composite took third place, 7.4 per cent. The proportion of other species were very small.