Ceratoides is a super xerophytic semi-shrub with high feeding value and important ecological function. On reviewing the research progress,classification,distribution, ecological values of Ceratoides on the basis of previous studies,we focus on several aspects such as short-lived seeds, difficulties in direct sowing and underutilization of production. First, the Illumina HiSeq 2000 was used to sequence 20 G bases of the transeriptome for Ceratoides. The genomic information was expected for further study of the seed longevity in natural populations. Second, by using technique of seedling in small area and transplanting in big area, we apply it in Ceratoides production. Third ,we utilize and extend the cuhivar of Ceratoides in arid region, saline lands and mining district.Ceratoides for ecological restoration. Besides, to assess nutrition values ,we carry out the research on Ceratoides pellet feed preparation as an alternative of alfalfa in sheep feeding trial.

The bio-ecological and economic values are summarized and analyzed in this paper based on relative papers. Suggestions for the demonstration and promotion of Ceratoides latens are given,it aims at the plantationand popularization of Ceratoides latens in the northern areas of China.

Ceratoides is the generic term for the semi-shrub plants of Ceratoides （Tourn.）Gagnedi. In the past 20 years, Inner Mongolia Academy of Animal Husbandry Science performed systematic studied on it, including plant taxonomy, ecological and biological characteristics, feeding value and its introduction and domestication, eeo-breeding, cultivation techniques, regional outreach, karyotype, the internal structure of the vegetative organs ,pollen grain morphology, seed physiological characteristics, isozymeanalysis, and so on. Advantages of Ceratoides ： （1）resistance to drought, cold, barren and wind erosion, easy cultivation ;（2） high value of forage：rich nutrition, palatability, fast growth, high forage yield; （3）ecological benefits： multiply rapidly, developed root system,windbreak and sand, soil and water conservation,long growing season. It＇s a pioneer plant for soil improvement and afforestation. This shows that developing Ceratoides in most areas of northwest China is of great significance for restoring grassland vegetation, promoting the sustainable development of agriculture and improving the ecological, economic and social benefits. In particularly,the new cuhivar ＂Ceratoides arborescens （Losinsk.）Tsien et C. G. Ma cv. Keerqinxing＂ has high aboveground biomass and good ecological effects. It should be planted according to local conditions selection,planning,firstly to create Ceratoides seed base, and then further to study the fruit processing and seed longevity technical measures, and continue to foster new superior breeds.

On the basis of surveying and referencing related papers,we have compared methods generally used in the research in shrubbiomass such as the plot method,score quantification method,visual colorimeter method and the method of using digital photograph to evaluate ,the results shows that plot method,line transect method and one quarter sampling method are fit to evaluate Ceratoides arborescens＇ biomass. These methods can obtain accurate date,they also provide technology support for promoting Ceratoides arborescens plantation in arid and semi-arid desert grassland area and improving natural Ceratoides arborescens grassland.

Cerraoides is a kind of excellent xerophytic or super-xerophytic forage,containing high amount of crude protein and aminoacids,having good palatability,windbreak and sand fixation effect.Ceratoides has important roles in improving grassland, preventing the grassland degradation, desertification and salinization as well as developing livestock production in desert steppe areas. This paper describes the researching status, progress and problems of Ceratoides at aspects such as anatomy, cytology, seed physiology, resistance physiology, biology, reproductive biology and reproductive ecology in the world.

Ceratoides arborescens （Losinsk.）Tsien et C. G. Ma cv. Wulanchabu is a new variety bred from wild desert grass seeds collected in Wulatezhongqi ,Houqi ,Siziwangqi, and after 10 years of introduction and cultivation. We chose seeds and carried out comparative test,regional test,productive test,popularization and application in the Comprehensive Test and Demonstration Center, Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences and surrounding areas. The variety showed following advantages ： （1）tall plant with developed root system; （2）resistanee to drought, cold and poor soil, strong adaptability ; （3） rich nutrition and good for animals ,fast growth, high forage yield. In the process of domestication, we compared Ceratoides with other forage grass in arid region,the variety showed characteristic of high germination rate,high seedling rate,high yield. Seedling and planting of this variety has remarkable economic benefits, it plays a good role on improving ecological environment. In production ,we use technique of seedling in small area and transplanting in big area.

Pollen grains collected from 10 plants of three Ceratoides species were conducted for their morphological characteristics. All grains are spheroidal in shape. Evenly distributed apertures are found on the surface of pollen grains. Some differences are found between the species in terms of size, aperture number, aperture distribution, aperture size, thickness of the pollen coats, and stria structure of the pollen grains.

Studies on chromosome of C. arborescens,Ceratoides latens and Ceratoides intramongolica showed that the basic chromosome number of three Ceratoides spp. were all 9 C. arborescens was diploid,Ceratoides latens was tetrap]oid,and Ceratoides intrarnongolica was hexaploid. These three plants ,even within the same species ,often presents different karyotypes because of different origin

The longevity of seed is the timeline that seed can maintain vitality. Research has been done on the Ceratoides arborescens seeds＇ longevity and the results showed that the Ceratoides arborescens seeds enter into germination climax in 48 h （3 days） under 25 ℃ isothermal and sufficient soil water conditions. The germination is fast and concentrative, full seedling can be reached in 4-5 days under the field sowing condition. The Ceratoides arborescens seeds＇ longevity can last more than 3 years under the general inventory conditions.

The ＂Chang Le＂ nitrate rare earthis selected in this research, cultivated forages, natural grassland, forage shrubs and semi-shrubs are applied by rare earth using different application methods and concentration of rare earth. The results showed that the application of rare earth to pasture has significantly increased yield ; seed soaking or foliar spray can he used for sowed forages when applying the rare earth ,while only foliar spray can be used for natural grassland. The appropriate foliar spray application time is from the early growth stage to beginning of flowering; compared to foliar spray, soaking is better,with the advantages of economy ,simple ,easy to promote ,etc. ;and with the effectiveness of improving the seed germination rate and seedling stage growth.Different types of forages have different sensitivities to rare earth.

Ceratoides belongs to psammophilous semi-shrub which is resistant to cold, drought, poor land and wind erosion, with strong reproductivity. This article reviews ecological and biological characteristics of Ceratoides ,and introduces its cultivation techniques in the following aspects such as seed collection and seed processing, land selection and soil preparation, sowing and seedling, cultivation of grass, seedling management and protection.

Ceratoides latens ,also called Bainingjiao,distributs in steppe desert and desert area of Inner Mongolia. Ceratoides latens is a kind of excellent semi-shrub with drought and cold resistance, high production and good quality. Its stem and leaves has good palatability for different livestock. For the utilization and cultivation of Ceratoides latens, this paper gives introduction of different kinds of seeding method.

In order to effectively research the planting techniques in artificial shrub grassland,Ceratoides arborescens （Losinsk.）Tsien et C. G. Ma cv. Keerqinxing and Astrogalus melilotoides Pall ev. Ordos were used under direct seeding conditions,during rainfall season with irrigation after seeding.The results show that, germination rate ofCeratoides orborescens （Losinsk.）Tsien et C. G. Macv. Keerqinxing is 95%, with survival rate of 98% in next year, and average output of 4 825 kg/hm2, 8 941 kg/hm2 and 12 748 kg/hm2 in second, third and fourth year; whereas Astragcdus melilotoides Pall. cv. Ordos get 75% ,95% ,927 kg/hm2,1 421 kg/hm2 and 2 275 kg/hm2 respectively. This technique solves the difficulties of seeding under arid and semiarid conditions, it has important practical significance to sustainable development of grassland and animal husbandry and to the ecological environment improvement.

Ceratoides arborescens is a kind of fine xerophil semi-shrub which with high cold, drought,barren tolerance and abundant nutrition. This paper introduces the seedling of Ceratoides arborescens and it＇ s establishment of shelter forest. Conditions such as ventilation, sunlight, water resource, soil, and pH are discussed here. The appropriate time of plantation is also discussed in this paper.

Biological hedge construction was conducted according to the vast uncovered and loosed soil after harvesting potatoes, the wind erosion, strong wind, scarce rainfall, especially during the winter and spring. The results showed that the wind erosion is serious in the north ecotone. When the bare field width is less than 8.4 m the wind erosion in it is decreased significantly by the adjacent crop stubble. But the wind erosion is increased linearly when the bare field is wider than 10.0 m. When 3 lines （ 1 m）oil sunflower or 2 lines （ 1 m）Ceratoides arborescens are planted adjacent to the stubble, the wind erosion can be decreased more, so the wind erosion in the bare field is decreased significantly even the bare field width is up to 15.0 m.

Ceratoides arborescens is a forage resource with considerable amount and vast distribution, but the understanding of its feeding value had rest on a traditional standard. The feeding value of Ceratoides arborescens is developed in order to fully understand and utilize Ceratoides arborescens, relieve the problem of forage lacking during winter and spring time or clue to white and black disaster, and explore a new way of effective sheep raising in desert steppe. The experiment was conducted to feed sheep on particle diet combined ground Ceratoides arborescens ,alfalfa and millet straw with concentrate in different ratio. Then the weight gainsof sheep were analyzed comparatively. The results showed that, in the level of 30% concentrated feed, the Ceratoides arborescens and millet straw roughage mix had the same weight gain effect as alfalfa,and could increase net income by 80 RMB per sheep;concentrate to roughage ratio at 3：7 with Ceratoides arborescens used has better economic output.

Ceratoides arborescens is a kind of feeding semi-shrub. Characteristics of Ceratoides arborescens such as its seeds, growth and development rate ,growing period and yield ,the growth status of roots and habitat of distribution are discussed in this paper. Through analyzing the nutrient components and the content of essential amino acids, we found that these components have very important role in the livestock and poultry production.

Ceratoides arborescens and alfalfa as main forages together with A spartate and A gropyron were used in feeding trials of Sunit lambs in this study. According to the principle of the forage combination ,six treatments were assigned as follows： 100% Ceratoides arborescens, 50% Ceratoides arborescens and 50% Asportate, 50% Ceratoides arborescens and 50% A gropyron, 100% alfalfa,50% alfalfa and 50% Aspartate, 50% alfalfa and 50% Agropyron. The results show that lambs fed with 100% alfalfa have best growth and slaughter performance. The feeding effects of 50% Cerotoides arborescens and 50% Aspartate are better than 100% Ceratoides arborescens, 50% Ceratoides arborescens and 50% Agropyron.

It has been proposed that salt-tolerant plant could be used as a feed resource for ruminants whereby salt would be removed from salinized land （Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. （2002） 15：998-1001）. Ceratoides arborescens （Losinsk.） Tsien et C. G. Ma is known as a drought- and salt-tolerant plant,a kind of shrubs, growing in semi-arid land of Inner Mongolia. Because the covering effect of the perennial plant as a mulch over the soil might be expected, the optimum covering effect would be obtained after the growth period.The perennial plant produces seeds around summer and end its growth thereafter. Nutrient value of the perennial salt-tolerant plant, however, had not been reported in flowering period at different year. It is necessary to know the ruminal degradability of the plants of each growing year in order to determine the regimen to diet for ruminants. The present experiment,therefore,was undertaken to analyze the digestibility and chemical composition of Ceratoides arborescens as feed for ruminants.

Regenerations after mowing were measured at three different stubble settings of Ceratoides arborescens, and the growth and production were comprehensively analyzed. Plants with 9-10 cm stubble setting had the maximum heights,which were （41.27±11.06） cm ;plants with 6-7 cm stubble setting had the most tiller numbers,which reached to（40.17±10.27） strips;plants with 6-7 cm stubble setting also had the highest yield. This experiment shows that, 6-7 cm stubble setting is the best setting of mowing stubble for Ceratoides arborescens.

Ceratoides arborescens ,widely growing in China＇s arid, semi-arid areas, can be used as a good artificial mowing semi-shrub species in arid areas. As a good forage, it has the characteristics of drought, cold and poor land resistance ; it plays an important role in vegetation restoration and grassland improvement. In this paper, we are trying to find the impacts of mowing on the compensatory growth of C. arborescens. We designed three experiments under different mowing frequency：C, arborescens without mowing as the control group;one mowing per two years （treatment 1 ） ;one mowing per year （treatment 2）. Then we studied the growth, photosynthetic physiology and energy distribution of those C. arborescens. The results from the experiments show that： （1）With the increase in the mowing frequency of C. arborescens,the ratio of stems and leaves increased,and mowing promotes the growth of shoots and underground roots. Compared with the control group, on one hand, the shoots in the experimental groups with mowing have the morphological characteristics of less, longer and thicker;on the other hand, the roots have wider root ranger, longer main root and more lateral, resulting in morphological overcompensation effect. （2）Mowing increases the net photosynthetic rate of C. arborescens,transpiration rate and stomatal conductance,lowers the water use efficiency; exhibiting photosynthetic compensation effect. （3）Mowing increases the relative growth rate of the C. arborescens and the biomass in the current-year branches. However, the biomass in the aerial parts of leaves and flowers decreases. Considering the leaves, flowers and shoots,the higher the mowing frequency,the lower the biomass in those parts as a whole. From the experiments results,we concluded that：for treatment 1,the biomass in the aerial parts demonstrates equal compensation,while treatment 2 showed less compensation, consequently ,neither of the two treatments reached the level of over compensation. At the same time, mowing increases the distribution of roots＇ biomass, which means the ratio of biomass in root to shoot increases. （4）Mowing has no significant effect on the total caloric values, but it has significant impacts on the caloric distribution. The existing energy volume trend is consistent with the biomass in C. arborescens, as a result, mowing make more energy distributed in the roots.

Ceratoides arborescend is preferred by livestock such as sheep,horses and camels because of its luxuriant foliages, abundant nutrition, rich protein and calcium. It＇s stem and leaf preserved well in cold season, and the characteristics of drought resistance,cold resistance, barren tolerance made it a kind of excellent xerophil semi-shrub in arid area. It＇s also a kind of important grass seed for building and planting in non-irrigated pasture. This paper introduces Ceratoides arborescens＇ exploitation and utilization, morphological characteristics, ecological types and cytology researches, growth and development, adaptation and habitats,building and planting technology,grassland management,nutritional value ;it also gives reference plants ofthe same genus as Ceratoides arborescens for extending plantation, exploitation and utilization.

Through contrasting the Ceratoides intramongolica with Ceratoides arborescens in morphology, cytology and nutritional composition,we made detailed research and analysis of Ceratoides intramongolica growth environment,plant morphological characteristics, cytological characteristics, nutritional composition and contents of amino acids. It aims at knowing the Ceratoides intramongolica＇s growth habit,and using its ecological physiological characteristics to provide references on controlling of desertification.

Ceratoides forage is a kind of fine xerophil semi-shrub with drought and cold tolerance, high yield and high quality. All kinds of livestock enjoy eating and it is especially ideal in cold season. Ceratoides latens distributes in steppe desert and desert area, while Ceratoides arborescens distributes in arid grassland and desert steppe in Inner Mongolia. This paper studies ecological and biological characteristics, species distribution, utilization and key points of cultivation of Ceratoides forage in Inner Mongolia.

7 species of Ceratoides exist in the world,mainly distribute in arid and semi-arid areaof north temperate zone. 3 species of Ceratoides have been found in Inner Mongolia after many years＇ investigation and cultivation test,Ceratoides arborescens, Ceratoides latens, Ceratoides intramongolica respectively.This paper introduces the biological characteristics and provides reference for extension and planting of Ceratoides intramongolica genera.

A rtemisia ordosica Kraseh., also called A rtemisia ordosica Kraseh. and Ordos A rtemisia, is a typical xerophytes and psammophytes ,which belongs to composite family Artemisia shrub. With its unique biological characteristics ,Artemisia ordosica Krasch. distributes in semi-arid and arid typical steppe （TS）,pratum steppe （PS）,desert steppe and desert. This paper summarizes Artemisia ordosica Krasch.＇ s natural distribution,introduction and application process,morphological character, plant taxonomy, cytological studies, growth and development, adaptability and environmental condition, vegetation construction, grassland management, control of insects and pests, nutritive value, exploitation and utilization of same genus plants, in order to provide a reference for more effective exploitation, utilization and expansion planting ofArtemisia ordosica Krasch..

This review examines the role of halophytic forage shrubs such as A triplex spp. in the production of high quality sheep or goat meat. It is apparent that A triplex shrubs have the potential to produce a carcass with less fat and increase muscle vitamin E to maintain the meat color. This review has outlined the best ways of using Atriplex shrubs on improving meat quality and composition as well as increasing vitamin E based on considering fanning condition and animal digestion. Difficulties arise because Atriplex shrubs are low to moderate in energy values,and incapable of increasing live weight gain to produce commercially desirable carcass, unless the animals are supplemented with either high quality forages or concentrates. This review also highlights the role of A triplex shrubs in sheep and goats meat production. Because of their shootbud browsing ability, goats may have an increased potential for better live weight gain, higher carcass lean and muscle vitamin E levels than that of sheep.

Chenopodiaceae is one of dominant halophytes species in Ahay region, Russia, and in the early 1 750 s,people began to study on it. In this paper,we review the Chenopodiaceae＇s history,origin, species distribution in Ahay region, and introduce natural habitats of Chenopodiaceae plant species in Altay. At the same time,preliminary description of the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of salt tolerance of halophytes is given in this paper.

Ceratoides lanata （Pursh） J. T. Howell is a shrub with numerous annual branehlets from the Chenopodiaceae family and is widely distributed in brackish water playas of northern Utah. Seeds had no dormancy, and about 90% of the seeds germinated in nonsaline control. Seed germination decreased with the increase in salinity,and more than 10% of the seeds germinated at 900 mmol/L NaC1.Almost all seeds germinated in less than 24 h, and no additional seed germinated after this time. Gibberellic acid had no effect in alleviating salinity effects;however, kinetin and fusicoccin substantially alleviated the effect of salinity on germination, while ethephon almost completely reverted the effect of salinity.