Little grazer species effect on the vegetation in a rotational grazing system

Jerrentrup, Jana Sabrina; Seither, Melanie; Petersen, Ute; Isselstein, J.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2015.01.007

Cited by 39 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In spite of the widespread use of cattle and sheep grazing in the maintenance and conservation of grasslands in Europe, there is a considerable lack of knowledge, especially concerning the effects of grazing on functional attributes of grassland vegetation (Ausden et al, , Dumont et al, ). The differences between sheep and cattle grazing and their effects on vegetation was summarised by Rook et al (), Metera et al () and Jerrentrup et al (). It was indicated that the effect of cattle and sheep grazing could be different on the vegetation characteristics because of (i) the different body size, (ii) grazing height, (iii) foraging strategy and selectivity of the two livestock types.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was indicated that the effect of cattle and sheep grazing could be different on the vegetation characteristics because of (i) the different body size, (ii) grazing height, (iii) foraging strategy and selectivity of the two livestock types. However, studies focusing on multiple types of livestock and intensity in relation with the functional plant attributes are still scarce (but see Klimešová et al, , de Bello et al, , Jerrentrup et al, ). This comparison would be especially crucial in grasslands where multiple options for grazing livestock types and intensities are available for conservation and management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Livestock Type is More Crucial Than Grazing Intensity: Traditional Cattle and Sheep Grazing in Short‐Grass Steppes

Tóth

Deák²,

Valkó³

et al. 2016

Land Degrad Dev

163

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In biodiversity conservation of agriculture‐driven landscapes, grasslands have an outstanding importance; their conservation became a top priority both in research and practice. In many regions, sheep or cattle grazing are the best options for biodiversity conservation. In our study, we compared the effects of cattle and sheep grazing on short‐grass steppe vegetation under various grazing intensities. We tested the following study hypotheses: (i) sheep grazing maintains a lower taxonomic and functional diversity, lower amount of forbs compared with cattle grazing; and (ii) the effects of grazing are highly intensity dependent: the differences detected between cattle and sheep grazing are more pronounced at low grazing intensities than at high ones, because the selectivity of grazing decreases at higher intensities. We found lower taxonomic and functional diversity, and lower cover of forbs in sheep‐grazed steppes compared with cattle‐grazed ones. Grazing intensity had a significant effect only on species richness, while on Shannon diversity and evenness, only livestock type had a significant effect. While most single trait indices were affected by the type of the grazer, significant effect of intensity was detected only in few cases. These findings indicated that the selection of the livestock type is the most crucial in conservation; however, for proper ecosystem functioning and high trait variability, the suitable grazing intensity should also be carefully adjusted. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Livestock Type is More Crucial Than Grazing Intensity: Traditional Cattle and Sheep Grazing in Short‐Grass Steppes

Tóth

Deák²,

Valkó³

et al. 2016

Land Degrad Dev

163

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, grazing also affects the microbial structure, enzyme activities (Su et al 2004), and microbial activities in the soil. The grassland community is found to be changed by grazing (Altesor et al 2006) through selective defoliation, trampling, and excreta deposition (Wrage et al 2012;Jerrentrup et al 2015). Such change is mainly in terms of its structure and function (Altesor et al 2005;Luo et al 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil properties and species composition under different grazing intensity in an alpine meadow on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Yang

Xiong

et al. 2016

Environ Monit Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As the main form of land use and human disturbance of grassland, livestock grazing has great influences on the soil resources and plant communities. This study observed the variation of soil properties and community characteristics of four treatments of different grazing intensity (no grazing, UG; light grazing, LG; moderate grazing, MG; and heavy grazing, HG) in an alpine meadow of Sichuan Province on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that grazing increased the pH, soil bulk density (BD), and contents of total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN), and the BD increased while the others decreased with the grazing intensity. At the community level, with the increase of the grazing intensity, the vegetation coverage (R 2 = 0.61, P < 0.001), mean height of community (R 2 = 0.37, P < 0.001), aboveground biomass (R 2 = 0.54, P < 0.001), litter biomass (R 2 = 0.84, P < 0.001), and percentage of aboveground biomass of palatable grasses to total biomass (R 2 = 0.74, P < 0.001) significantly decreased, while the belowground biomass (R 2 = 0.72, P < 0.001) and the root/shoot (R/S) ratio (R 2 = 0.65, P < 0.001) increased. The species richness was the greatest at LG and the total biomass at UG. With grazing, the dominant species of the plant community shifted from palatable grasses (Gramineae and Cyperaceae) to unpalatable grasses (Compositae and Ranunculaceae). Based on the results, LG may be the optimal grassland management mode to be used in the long time in the alpine meadow of the Tibetan Plateau.

show abstract

“…Cattle can encircle forage with their tongues with no selectivity for plant quality as they eat to increase bulk in the rumen; however, sheep, on the other hand, have considerable selectivity for high quality plants although they graze with their tongues just like cattle. Whatsmore, they have the ability to eat grasses close to the ground as they have an upper lip fissure which explains why they are called sweeper animals (Rook et al, 2004;Jerrentrup et al, 2015). Thus, complementary grazing of cattle and sheep could be beneficial from an agronomic point of view (Jerrentrup et al, 2015), allowing for better utilization of pastures resulting in a structurally more homogeneous sward (Forbes and Hodgson, 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dry matter intake, performance and carcass characteristics of hair sheep reared under different grazing systems

Santos

McManus

Peripolli

et al. 2017

Sci. agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three different grazing systems: isolated, alternate and simultaneous, on feed intake, performance and carcass characteristics of sheep. About 5.2 ha area of Tanzania grass (Panicum maximun Jacq cultivate Tanzania) was divided into 13 paddocks. This area was used as a stocking rate of two animal units (AU) per ha for 7 days' occupation and 21 days rest. A total number of 58 animals were used consisting of 12 heifers and 30 Santa Ines lambs with the addition of 16 adult ewes that were used to stabilize grazing pressure in the isolated system. The sheep were fed on 200 g per head per day of concentrate and cattle 2 kg per head per day. The parameters determined were the following:weekly weight (WW), total live weight gain (LWG) and mean daily weight gain (MDW). Also dry matter intake was estimated 84 days after the start of the experiment using external indicators (Purified and Enriched Lignin) in addition to carcass traits and composition which were also estimated. The result obtained for carcass composition revealed that the muscle:bone ratio and bone percentage were better in the alternate system. Moreover, the simultaneous and isolated systems showed higher lamb performance than the alternate system, while there was no effect on dry matter intake. Furthermore, there was no difference of the different systems on carcass traits and feed intake of sheep. Nevertheless, the simultaneous grazing system showed better sheep performance than the alternate grazing system.

show abstract

Little grazer species effect on the vegetation in a rotational grazing system

Cited by 39 publications

References 37 publications

Livestock Type is More Crucial Than Grazing Intensity: Traditional Cattle and Sheep Grazing in Short‐Grass Steppes

Livestock Type is More Crucial Than Grazing Intensity: Traditional Cattle and Sheep Grazing in Short‐Grass Steppes

Soil properties and species composition under different grazing intensity in an alpine meadow on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Dry matter intake, performance and carcass characteristics of hair sheep reared under different grazing systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About