Occurrence of Rodent Species in Agricultural Lands during Cropping and Non-Cropping Seasons of Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan

Munawar, Nadeem; Hussaın, Iftikhar; Mahmood, Tariq

doi:10.17582/journal.pjz/2018.50.5.1663.1669

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The Pothwar ecosystem consists of non-cultivated (scrub forest and range land) and cultivated croplands. The cropland tracks also bear some wild vegetation on the thick field boundaries, kept undisturbed and intact for conservation of rain water (Munawar et al, 2018). The Pothwar Plateau is a habitat of seven rodent species (Roberts, 1997); the lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis), the short-tailed mole rat (Nesokia indica), the Indian gerbil (Tatera indica), the soft-furred field rat (Millardia meltada), the desert jird (Meriones hurrianae), the bush rat (Golunda ellioti) and Mus species.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

New Fossil Remains of Artiodactyla from Dhok Pathan Formation, Middle Siwaliks of Punjab, Pakistan

Draz¹,

Ni²,

Samiullah³

et al. 2020

PJZ

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

New Fossil Remains of Artiodactyla from Dhok Pathan Formation, Middle Siwaliks of Punjab, Pakistan

Draz¹,

Ni²,

Samiullah³

et al. 2020

PJZ

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“…This region is the most productive rangeland in the country (Mansoor et al 2020). However, in recent times, the productivity of these rangelands has shown a significant downward trend (Munawar et al 2018) mostly due to the lack of proper grazing systems, over exploitation of resources and urbanization ). Nomadic grazing is the most prevalent grazing system in these rangelands and is responsible for rapid degradation of range resource in terms of biomass production and palatable range species (Shah et al 2015) and the number of livestock is continuously on the rise, leading to a shortage of feed and forage resource, especially in the winter months (Ahmad et al 2012;Mansoor et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan

Islam¹,

Razzaq

Zubair

et al. 2021

J. Mt. Sci.

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Scrub rangelands support livestock grazing and provide ecosystem services to their inhabitants. The present study was conducted in Chakwal, an important tract of the Pothwar Plateau, which sustains herds of small domestic and nomadic ruminants. Urbanization and uncontrolled grazing practices have reduced rangeland productivity and increased soil erosion and resulted in poor land conditions. This study assessed the influence of two years of rangeland protection on aboveground vegetation biomass and the chemical composition of plants and aimed to determine the influence of seasonal grazing on the live-weight gain of small ewes. Using the line intercept method, vegetation data from protected and unprotected plots in 2015 and 2016 were collected at two sites, Dhulli and Begal. Vegetation cover was assessed from images using VegMeasure. Results showed that protected study sites displayed higher vegetation biomass (834 and 690 kg ha-1) compared to the unprotected study site (477 and 326 kg ha-1) during April and August of both years. In the seasonal grazing trial, the experimental ewes that grazed on protected rangelands showed higher live-weight gain (33–63 g day-1) compared to live weight of ewes (17–21 g day-1) that grazed on unprotected rangelands during the experimental period of 127 days at both sites. The results suggest that the Chakwal rangeland has tremendous potential to improve vegetation productivity but modern livestock management and seasonal grazing practices are needed to improve carrying capacity and livestock productivity.

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“…More rats were captured in wheat, implying that wheat crop provided good shelter and energy rich food to the B. bengalensis at the maturity. This crop stage also corresponds to the breeding activity of this rodent in Pothwar agro-ecosystem (Munawar et al, 2018). Among wild vegetation, the rodent species fed upon Khbal gha (Cynodon dactylon), Baron dhab (Demostachya bipinnata), and Prickly flower (Achyranthes aspera) (Table 2; Figure 1).…”

Section: Diet Compositionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Dietary habits of lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota Bengalensis) in an agro-ecosystem, Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan

et al. 2024

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Dietary habits of bandicoot rats (bandicota bengalensis) were investigated in the agricultural crops of the Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan by analysing stomach contents. The research activities were conducted in major field crops including wheat-groundnut and in the fallow lands during non-crop season at the field boundaries. The specimens were captured from the fields using kill/snap traps, and dissected to collect their stomach samples for laboratory analysis. Light microscopic slides of the plant material were recovered from stomach samples and the reference materials were collected from the field. Results revealed that the bandicoot rat predominantly fed upon cultivated crops during cropping season but consumed wild vegetation during non-cropping season. There was no significance difference between summer and winter diets. Most frequently consumed crop food items were wheat (Triticum aestivum; 28.57%), groundnut (Arachis hypogea; 11.26%), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor; 10.17%), chickpea (Cicer arietinum; 9.52%), maize (Zea mays; 6.49%), millet (Pennisetum glaucum; 5.84%), barley (Hordeum vulgare; 4.98%) and mustard (Brassica campestris; 4.98%). Among wild vegetation were consumed khbal gha (Cynodon dactylon; 7.79%), baron dhab (Demostachya bipinnata; 7.36%) and Prickly flower (Achyranthes aspera; 3.03%). The study concludes that, in addition to consuming wheat and groundnut crops, the Lesser bandicoot rat also subsists on grasses, weeds, and some fodder crops, as important component of its diet in agro-ecosystem of the Pothwar Plateau.

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Occurrence of Rodent Species in Agricultural Lands during Cropping and Non-Cropping Seasons of Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

New Fossil Remains of Artiodactyla from Dhok Pathan Formation, Middle Siwaliks of Punjab, Pakistan

New Fossil Remains of Artiodactyla from Dhok Pathan Formation, Middle Siwaliks of Punjab, Pakistan

Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan

Dietary habits of lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota Bengalensis) in an agro-ecosystem, Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan

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