A GIS-BASED ASSESSMENT OF RAIN-USE EFFICIENCY FACTOR AND GRAZING CAPACITY IN PREVEZA PREFECTURE, GREECE

Abstract

This study was carried out during the period of 2006-2008 in order to assess the rain use efficiency factor and the grazing capacity of Preveza Prefecture rangelands by applying Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques and field work. Climatic data and forage production of representative range types were recorded for this study period. About 51.4 percent of total rangelands area has rain use efficiency value below 2 kg/ha/mm ranging from 0.00 to 2.00 kg/ ha/ mm. The rest 48.6 percent accounts to 2.01-4.00 kg/ha/mm. The grazing capacity value of Preveza Prefecture rangelands ranges from 0.00 to 8.80 AU/ha. The results also show that only 0.8 percent of total rangeland area is below 2.10 AU/ha and only 24.6 percent of total area is above 6.3 AU/ha. The results further show that forage production of Preveza Prefecture rangelands exhibit a high variation in relation to topography. Also, it seems that in grasslands and phrygana range types the usable forage is inadequate to meet the grazing animal requirements. However, long-term results are required to improve the accuracy of evaluations in Greek rangeland ecosystems.