Strategic Grazing in Beef-Pastures for Improved Soil Health and Reduced Runoff-Nitrate-A Step towards Sustainability

Abstract

Generally, improvement in the soil health of pasturelands can result in amplified ecosystem services which can help improve the overall sustainability of the system. The extent to which specific best management practices have this effect has yet to be established. A farm-scale study was conducted in eight beef-pastures in the Southern Piedmont of Georgia, from 2015 to 2018, to assess the effect of strategic-grazing (STR) and continuous-grazing hay distribution (CHD) on soil health indicators and runoff nitrate losses. In 2016, four pastures were converted to the STR system and four were grazed using the CHD system. Post-treatment, in 2018, the STR system had significantly greater POXC (by 87.1, 63.4, and 55.6 mg ha−1 at 0–5, 5–10, and 10–20 cm, respectively) as compared to CHD system. Soil respiration was also greater in the STR system (by 235 mg CO2 m-2 24 h−1) and less nitrate was lost in the runoff (by 0.21 kg ha−1) as compared to the CHD system. Cattle exclusion and overseeding vulnerable areas of pastures in STR pastures facilitated nitrogen mineralization and uptake. Our results showed that the STR grazing system could improve the sustainability of grazing systems by storing more labile carbon, efficiently mineralizing soil nitrogen, and lowering runoff nitrate losses.

The Fate of Nitrogen from Soil to Plants: Influence of Agricultural Practices in Modern Agriculture

“…If the animal slurry is used, nitrification inhibitors can be also added to the soil [152]. To reduce N 2 O losses, soil pH can be increased by lime addition, while avoiding anaerobic conditions with suitable soil irrigation, or by reducing the passage of animals that could compact the soil thus creating a condition of anaerobiosis, could also help to this matter [151,153].…”

The Joint Effect of Grazing Intensity and Soil Factors on Aboveground Net Primary Production in Hulunber Grasslands Meadow Steppe

“…The distribution of carbohydrates, both already stored and recently produced, enhanced regrowth of leaves at the expense of roots and seems to be an essential factor in controlling responses of compensatory growth [8,9,69,[80][81][82]. Not only the carbohydrates redistribution, but also the nitrogen reserves mobilization from roots and stems for re-growing leaves, might positively impact plant regrowth [83][84][85]. The results of the grass absolute growth represented by GR showed that, with the passive response to G0.92 becoming obvious, the G0.23 supported the GR (Table 1), and a comparable pattern appeared between the years.…”

Soil nitrate leaching under grazed cool‐season grass pastures of the North Central US

“…Management innovations have addressed many of these problems by careful manipulation of livestock distribution with mobile feeding, watering and shading stations combined with the abovementioned adaptive paddock adjustments when herbivory and trampling pressure becomes too high. 25,[31][32][33] However, these practices require daily attention to the pasture resource and must be adopted and implemented to be effective. 34,35 Irrespective of management to homogenize the pressure of livestock on the environment, the distribution of fecal pats and urine patches will always be heterogeneous in pastures at spatial scales where the concentrations of labile N exceed what plants, microbes, and soil organic matter can take up and retain.…”

“…These problems can be particularly acute in and around feeding, water, and shade stations where livestock congregate, 30 especially during winter months when little to no plant uptake is occurring. Management innovations have addressed many of these problems by careful manipulation of livestock distribution with mobile feeding, watering and shading stations combined with the abovementioned adaptive paddock adjustments when herbivory and trampling pressure becomes too high 25,31–33 . However, these practices require daily attention to the pasture resource and must be adopted and implemented to be effective 34,35 .…”