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The impacts of deforestation on soil fertility indices – are still not well understood in the forest lands of Iran characterised by Mediterranean type climate. Consistent with this, 8 soil pedons and 32 soil cores were described and sampled from four different soil types of forest and adjacent cultivated soil along a Mollisols transect. The results revealed a considerable depletion in the values of soil organic carbon (by 60–88%), total N (by 67–88%), available K (by 20–45%), cation exchange capacity (by 9–21%), and the diethylene-triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) fraction of Fe (by 40–72%), Mn (by 10–60%), and Zn (by 49–80%) after deforestation. In contrast, soil pH (by 0.36–0.9 units), C:N ratio (by 3–84%), available P (22–139%), and DTPA Cu (by 4–55%) tended to increase due to deforestation. Cultivated soils showed a drop of 70–82% in the values of the soil productivity index than to those of the forest soil, indicating a degrading and declining effect of deforestation on soil productivity capacity. It was found that the majority of soil fertility indices were affected negatively by deforestation and more than half of the organic matter was lost to deforestation, which, in turn, could lead to deterioration in soil quality or land productivity capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A breeding program to improve income from Raeini cashmere herds run by nomads in Southern Iran was implemented. Eight nomads agreed on improving fleece weight, body weight and down yield while reducing cashmere fibre diameter of white coated goats. Economic weights were calculated to define a breeding objective. Each nomad established a breeding nucleus selecting visually his best 40 does and two bucks from about 250 goats. Nomads used different systems to ensure separate mating of nucleus and general herd animals. Nomads were also able to identify the progeny of each buck. Nucleus progenies were recorded for weaning weight and fleece weight. Fleece samples were collected for analyses of down yield and down fibre diameter. General herd male progeny was castrated. Formal selection indices were used to select nucleus male replacements. To construct the indices phenotypic and genetic parameters were taken from project data and published figures. Accuracy of indices ranged 0.47 to 0.66 depending on the traits included. The inferior buck based on progeny index average was replaced by the best young buck available. Other high ranked young bucks were used in the general herd. The breeding program is in its fourth cycle and favourable selection differentials were confirmed for selected bucks in all traits of interests, in particular for down weight and down diameter, 62 g and −0.5 μm, respectively. The expected benefit of the program is about 4.0 USD accumulating per goat and per year. Fleece testing is an issue since the region lacks a fleece testing service. If fleece sampling is discontinued the expected benefit reduces to about 2.8 USD per goat and per year. Circular use of bucks to control inbreeding and participation of additional nomad families are planned for the future. This experience shows that a participatory breeding program can be successfully implemented under nomadic conditions through intensive collaboration of nomad herders, regional extension officers and scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The income of the nomads in Kerman Province depends mainly on Raeini goats that produce meat, milk and cashmere. This paper assesses the cashmere quality and its variation in Raeini herds to determine the scope for improvement. In April 2010 fleece weights (FW) and midside fleece samples were taken from a total of 686 male and female cashmere goats of 1, 2 and 3 years of age belonging to 29 herds. The herds were randomly chosen in the summer grazing area of nomads within 20km of the city of Baft, province of Kerman, South of Iran, the main cashmere producing area in Iran. Cashmere yield (CY) was determined from the weight of dehaired cashmere to weight of shorn fiber. Cashmere fibers were analyzed using an OFDA instrument. A general mixed linear model including sex, age and sex by age interaction as fixed effects and herd as random effect was used to analyze the data and measure the relationships between different cashmere characteristics and fleece attributes. The overall means±standard deviations were for fleece weights (FW) 507±183g, cashmere yield (CY) 56.5±12.2%, mean fiber diameter (MFD) 19.7±1.5μm, fiber diameter standard deviation (FDSD) 4.5±0.6μm, fiber curvature (FC) 62.9±8.5°/mm and staple length (SL) 54.2±7.0mm, respectively. Herd effect was significant for all traits except for SL and sex by age effect was only significant for MFD. One year old males and females had finer cashmere than older goats. FW and FDSD were higher in males and CY and FC was higher in young animals. Pearson correlation between MFD and FC, FDSD and MFD, MFD and FW was −0.647, 0.399 and 0.211 respectively. Raeini cashmere is white, has an excellent SL and FC but is relatively coarse. Given the differences between and within herds there seems to be substantial scope to improve the commercial value of Raeini cashmere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]