Restoration of grazing land to increase biomass production and improve soil properties in the Blue Nile basin: effects of infiltration trenches and Chloris Gayana reseeding

Abstract

Degradation of crop and grazing lands is a pervasive problem that negatively impacts agricultural productivity and livelihoods of crop-livestock farmers in the Blue Nile basin of Ethiopia. Area enclosure together with a cut and carry livestock feeding system is often advocated as an approach for the regeneration of degraded grazing lands. This paper reports the results of a two-year farmer participatory study conducted to assess the effects of infiltration trenches (ITs) and Chloris gayana Kunth (Rhodes grass; cultivar Masaba; tetraploid; C4 grass species) reseeding on restoration of degraded grazing lands. A split plot design was used with IT as the main plot and C. gayana reseeding as a sub-plot on 28 private grazing plots under enclosure. The results showed that IT alone increased soil moisture content and prolonged the growing period. IT and C. gayana reseeding together significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased herbage dry matter yield and improved soil chemical properties. The highest mean herbage dry matter yield (21 Mg ha−1 per cut) was recorded for plots treated with IT and reseeded with C. gayana. The higher herbage dry matter yield was attributed to increased soil moisture and the resultant prolonged growing period induced by the trenches coupled with the ability of C. gayana to effectively utilize the retained water. The results suggest that an integrated land management approach involving enclosure, in-situ water conservation and C. gayana reseeding can rapidly increase biomass productivity on degraded grazing lands while also enhancing soil quality with concomitant livelihood benefits for farmers.

Morphoecological characteristics of grasses used to restore degraded semi‐arid African rangelands

“…Biomass production and plant height are used as predictors of performance in ecological restoration (Erkossa et al., 2020; Vundla et al., 2020). Sowing C. gayana and E. superba was clearly more successful in terms of providing ecosystem services (e.g., biomass production and erosion control) than the other selected species.…”

“…Ten measurements were taken along each transect (1 m interval) to give a total of 30 measurement points in each plot. Plant densities, tillers and basal cover facilitate regrowth after disturbance and trap sediments and as such are important to ecological restoration (Erkossa et al., 2020). Seed production was estimated from the biomass harvested by separating it from the stem and leaf biomass by hand stripping.…”

Morphoecological characteristics of grasses used to restore degraded semi-arid African rangelands

“…Biomass production and plant height are used as predictors of performance in ecological restoration (Erkossa et al, 2020;Vundla et al, 2020). Sowing C. gayana and E. superba was clearly more successful in terms of providing ecosystem services (e.g., biomass production and erosion control) than the other selected species.…”

“…Ten measurements were taken along each transect (1 m interval) to give a total of 30 measurement points in each plot. Plant densities, tillers and basal cover facilitate regrowth after disturbance and trap sediments and as such are important to ecological restoration (Erkossa et al, 2020). Seed production was estimated from the biomass harvested by separating it from the stem and leaf biomass by hand stripping.…”

Carbon stock, sequestration and soil properties among fields in smallholder farms in southern Ethiopia

“…On contrary, farming size at the face of growing population is decreasing. There is also an expansion of agricultural areas in response to growing population and increasing demand for food (Teklu et al 2020). It has been done at the expense of grazing and forest lands.…”