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The grasslands are found where rainfall is about 25-75 cm per year, not enough to support a forest, but more than that of a true desert.
Typical grasslands are vegetation formations that are generally found in temperate climates.
In India, they are found mainly in the high Himalayas. The rest of India’s grasslands are mainly composed of steppes and savannas.
The major difference between steppes and savannas is that all the forage in the steppe is provided only during the brief wet season whereas in the savannas forage is largely from grasses that not only grow during the wet season but also from the smaller amount of regrowth in the dry season.
Steppe formations occupy large areas of sandy and saline soil; in western Rajasthan, where the climate is semi- arid, average rainfall is less than 200 mm a year with a dry season of 10 to 11 months, and a large variation in rainfall. The soil is always exposed, sometimes rocky but more often sandy with fixed or mobile dunes. Forage is available only during the brief wet season. The grass layer is sparse and consists mainly of annual grass species.
In the central and eastern parts of Rajasthan, where the rainfall is about 500 mm per year and the dry season is of six to eight months, dry savanna grazing ecosystems have developed. The light shade cast by the sparse population of trees like khetri favours the growth of the grasses.