RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS A quantitative study of pollarding process in silvopastoral systems of Northern Zagros, Iran Laila Khedri 1 , Loghman Ghahramany 2 , Hedayat Ghazanfari 2 and Fernando Pulido 3 1 University of Kurdistan, Faculty of Natural Resources, Dept. of Forestry, Sanandaj, Iran 2 University of Kurdistan, The Center for Research and Development of Northern Zagros Forestry, Dept. of Forestry, Sanandaj, Iran 3 University of Extremadura, Institute for Dehesa Research, Plasencia (Cáceres), Spain Abstract Aim of study: This research attempts to quantitatively describe the pollarding process in the northern Zagros, western Iran. Material and methods: An inventory of all trees was conducted in three representative stands in the pollarded section (DBH ≥ 5 cm): DBH, total height, trunk height and crown diameters were measured. At the time of pollarding, 10% of the foliage stacks were randomly selected and weighed. The positions of each store tree (i.e. special trees capable of enduring the weight of a certain number of leafy branches (average 600 kg)) and horizontal distance of pollarded trees associated with each store tree was recorded. Main results: The number and weight of foliage stacks resulting from pollarding of each tree correlated (0.48 and 0.43, respectively) with their crown diameter. The average dry weight of leaf biomass was 1,525.6 ±108.1 kg/ha and there was a signifcant difference between the selected stands. The average pollarded area and the average number of trees in the pollarded area of each store tree was 501.1±210.4 m 2 and 9.4±3.5 trees, respectively. Research highlights: The number of pollarded trees associated with each store tree and the weight of stored foliage stacks on them are determined by the distance between pollarded trees and store trees, the number of trees around the store trees and the ability of selected store trees to bear the weight of foliage stacks. Additional keywords: forest-grazing; oak; pollarding; tree fodder Abbreviations used: DBH (diameter at breast height); FRWO (The Iran’s Forests, Range & Watershed Organization). Authors´ contributions: Conceived and designed the experiments: LG and HG. Performed the experiments: LG, LK and HG. Analyzed the data: LG, LK, HG and FP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LG, FP and HG. Wrote the paper: LG, LK and FP. Citation: Khedri, L.; Ghahramany, L.; Ghazanfari, H.; Pulido, F. (2017). A quantitative study of pollarding process in silvopastoral systems of Northern Zagros, Iran. Forest Systems, Volume 26, Issue 3, e018. https://doi.org/10.5424/fs/2017263-11433 Received: 21 Mar 2017. Accepted: 18 Dec 2017. Copyright © 2017 INIA. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-by) Spain 3.0 License. Funding: University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Correspondence should be addressed to Loghman Ghahramany: l.ghahramany@uok.ac.ir Forest Systems 26 (3), e018, 9 pages (2017) eISSN: 2171-9845 https://doi.org/10.5424/fs/2017263-11433 Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria O. A., M. P. (INIA) Introduction Pollarding for providing tree fodder for livestock and/or wood for fuel or other uses is an ancient practice (Smith et al., 2012). Pollarding was common in non- Mediterranean Europe, i.e., Pyrenees, Alps and Basque country (Read, 2006). This tree management system is still found in Greece, Crete and Sicily (Eichhorn et al., 2006). Harvesting of multi-purpose tree species to feed livestock has been reported in Asia (Thakur & Thakur, 2007; Rawat & Everson, 2013), Africa (Alemu et al., 2013; Berhe & Tanga, 2013; Franzel et al., 2014; Geta et al., 2014; Guyassa et al., 2014), South America (Argentina, Chile and Southern Brazil) (Peri et al., 2016), and in USA (Burner et al., 2006). Pollarding of oak trees (i.e. Quercus libani Oliv., Q. infectoria Oliv. and Q. brantii Lindl.), as a form of traditional forest management, has a long history (about 4000 years) that coincides with the development of traditional animal husbandry in the northern Zagros, western Iran (Fattahi, 1997). In the recent past this practice was conducted in west Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces (west of Iran) which always caused confict between local people and the Iran’s Forests, Range & Watershed Organization (FRWO). At the present time pollarding has been abandoned in Azerbaijan province and forests around Marivan city in Kurdistan province. It is conducted only in forests around of Baneh city in Kurdistan province where it is still an important practice and it is transferred from father to son without any change. In the forests of Baneh pollarding is supported by a fruitful traditional knowledge package