Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands

The effect of grazing pressure on infiltration, runoff, and soil loss was studied on a natural pasture during the 1995 rainy season in the Ethiopian highlands. The study was conducted on 0.01 ha plots established on sites with 0-4 percent and 4-8 percent slopes at the International Livestock Researc...

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Autores principales: Mwendera, E.J., Mohamed-Saleem, M.A.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 1997
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/28126
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author Mwendera, E.J.
Mohamed-Saleem, M.A.
author_browse Mohamed-Saleem, M.A.
Mwendera, E.J.
author_facet Mwendera, E.J.
Mohamed-Saleem, M.A.
author_sort Mwendera, E.J.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The effect of grazing pressure on infiltration, runoff, and soil loss was studied on a natural pasture during the 1995 rainy season in the Ethiopian highlands. The study was conducted on 0.01 ha plots established on sites with 0-4 percent and 4-8 percent slopes at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Debre Zeit research station, 50 km south of Addis Ababa. The grazing regimes were: light grazing stocked at 0.6 animals-unit-months (AUM) ha-1; moderate grazing stocked at 1.8 AUM ha-1; heavy grazing stocked at 3.0 AUM ha-1; very heavy grazing stocked at 4.2 AUM ha-1; very heavy grazing on ploughed soil stocked at 4.2 AUM ha-1; and a control with no grazing. Heavy to very heavy grazing pressure significantly increased surface runoff and soil loss and reduced infiltrability of the soil. It was observed that fine textured soils were more susceptible to trampling effects than coarse textured soils, and that reduction in infiltration rates was greater on soils which had been tilled and exposed to very heavy trampling. The problems of high runoff and erosion rates on the upper slopes is likely to be exacerbated by the fact that during the rainy season higher grazing pressure is exerted on the upper than lower slopes. Sediments produced from the highlands, which form headwaters of major rivers in the region, are modifications, the plot design presented here can be used for assessing livestock impacts on natural resources on different landforms at large scales such as watersheds. How the same amount of livestock mass dispersed by different livestock species impacts on the grazing lands needs to be studied further.
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spelling CGSpace281262024-04-25T06:00:15Z Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands Mwendera, E.J. Mohamed-Saleem, M.A. highlands cattle grazing infiltration runoff ecology The effect of grazing pressure on infiltration, runoff, and soil loss was studied on a natural pasture during the 1995 rainy season in the Ethiopian highlands. The study was conducted on 0.01 ha plots established on sites with 0-4 percent and 4-8 percent slopes at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Debre Zeit research station, 50 km south of Addis Ababa. The grazing regimes were: light grazing stocked at 0.6 animals-unit-months (AUM) ha-1; moderate grazing stocked at 1.8 AUM ha-1; heavy grazing stocked at 3.0 AUM ha-1; very heavy grazing stocked at 4.2 AUM ha-1; very heavy grazing on ploughed soil stocked at 4.2 AUM ha-1; and a control with no grazing. Heavy to very heavy grazing pressure significantly increased surface runoff and soil loss and reduced infiltrability of the soil. It was observed that fine textured soils were more susceptible to trampling effects than coarse textured soils, and that reduction in infiltration rates was greater on soils which had been tilled and exposed to very heavy trampling. The problems of high runoff and erosion rates on the upper slopes is likely to be exacerbated by the fact that during the rainy season higher grazing pressure is exerted on the upper than lower slopes. Sediments produced from the highlands, which form headwaters of major rivers in the region, are modifications, the plot design presented here can be used for assessing livestock impacts on natural resources on different landforms at large scales such as watersheds. How the same amount of livestock mass dispersed by different livestock species impacts on the grazing lands needs to be studied further. 1997-06 2013-05-06T06:59:58Z 2013-05-06T06:59:58Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/28126 en Limited Access Elsevier Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment;64(1): 33-41
spellingShingle highlands
cattle
grazing
infiltration
runoff
ecology
Mwendera, E.J.
Mohamed-Saleem, M.A.
Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands
title Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands
title_full Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands
title_fullStr Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands
title_full_unstemmed Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands
title_short Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands
title_sort hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the ethiopian highlands
topic highlands
cattle
grazing
infiltration
runoff
ecology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/28126
work_keys_str_mv AT mwenderaej hydrologicresponsetocattlegrazingintheethiopianhighlands
AT mohamedsaleemma hydrologicresponsetocattlegrazingintheethiopianhighlands