Rangeland in Western Mediterranean Coastal area of Egypt

The present investigation was carried out in Wadi El-Ramla, coastal sand dunes and salt marshes habitats in Western Mediterranean coastal area of Egypt during spring 2005 and 2006 to assessment the relationship between some common range plants and environmental factors in terms of botanical structure, productivity, nutritive value and their ability to sustain and renew themselves under different habitats. The results indicated that ninety eight plant species belonging to thirty families were recorded and the plant species divided into sixty one were perennials and thirty seven were annuals. According to palatability fifty nine were palatable and thirty nine were unpalatable. The richest habitat was Wadi El-Ramla followed by coastal sand and the poorest habitat was salt marshes. The studied characteristics of range plants were frequency, abundance, plant density, cover percentage, importance value and productivity as well as nutritive value of range plants evaluated by determining crude protein, crude fiber, ash, ether extract, and nitrogen free extract percentages. All characteristics showed differences between different range plants under different habitats.