Short Note (Nota Corta) Similarity Indices of a Sarcocaulescente Scrubland and Browsing Goats Diet in Northwest Mexico (Índices De Similitud De Un Matorral Sarcocaulescente y Dieta De Cabras Ramoneadoras en El Noreste De México) (original) (raw)

The extent of vegetation used by free browsing goats on a rangeland is a practical measure to determine rangeland productivity and may be measured by the similarity indices between the botanical composition of diet and the rangeland. The aims of this study were to evaluate and compare, seasonally the similarity indices of forage species and goats diets under the Sonorant desert conditions. Samplings were carried out in summer and autumn of 2006, and winter 2007 in a 200-ha rangeland with an animal density of 0.13 to 0.36 individuals/ha. Twenty two fixed transects (30 m long) distributed randomly were used to measure the botanical composition and importance value (IV) for plant types by the line-intercept method. Identified species were classified as non legumes trees and shrubs (NLTS), legumes trees and shrubs (LTS), cacti, forbs, agaves and grasses. Five castrated Creole-Nubio goats (29 kg of BW) provided with esophageal fistula were used to obtain diet samples and determine botani...