The Palatability of Plant Communities as One of the Criteria for the Qualitative Assessment of Pastures in Mongolia

The study of the state and economic value of pasture ecosystems in Mongolia in the context of their progressive degradation continues to be very relevant. The existing methods of forage assessment of pastures are either laborious (the zootechnical method) or do not reflect the real situation (assessment of overall productivity) in the formation of low-species or monodominant degraded communities. To determine the nutritional value and productivity of pasture ecosystems in Mongolia, the palatability coefficient (PC) is proposed, which is determined on the basis of data on the nutritional usefulness of plant species that make up the community, as well as the diversity of eaten species. The PC was calculated as the ratio of the phytomass eaten to the total aboveground phytomass, multiplied by the number of eaten species included in the composition of dominants and codominants. The PC was determined for 158 communities of meadow and steppe pasture ecosystems. These were ranked in four categories. It has been established that a significant part of the studied communities have a high PC. Although these communities are characterized by varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance, including severe ones, the high PC is due to the fact that some of the digressively active species have satisfactory or good palatability. This fact probably supports the potential for an increase in the number of livestock in Mongolia, which have a wide range of food preferences. At the same time, there is a high proportion of pastures with low and very low PCs. To a greater extent, such pastures are formed by communities of real and dry steppes, which experience the greatest pasture load in Mongolia.