Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system

Three grazing regimes [Cut-and-carry (CC), seasonal grazing (SG) and continuous grazing (CG)] currently applied in Tigrai region of northern Ethiopia were compared to identify the best grazing management in key native vegetation and soil attributes. More than 50% of the desirable species such as And...

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Autores principales: Habtemicael, M., Yayneshet, T., Treydte, A.C.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/56779
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author Habtemicael, M.
Yayneshet, T.
Treydte, A.C.
author_browse Habtemicael, M.
Treydte, A.C.
Yayneshet, T.
author_facet Habtemicael, M.
Yayneshet, T.
Treydte, A.C.
author_sort Habtemicael, M.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Three grazing regimes [Cut-and-carry (CC), seasonal grazing (SG) and continuous grazing (CG)] currently applied in Tigrai region of northern Ethiopia were compared to identify the best grazing management in key native vegetation and soil attributes. More than 50% of the desirable species such as Andropogon, Cynodon and Phalaris spp were located in the CC and SG regimes. During the rainy season, the CC regime produced 1.7 and 2.7 more biomass than the SG and CG regimes, respectively. Herbaceous basal cover was 6.8 times more in the CC than in the CG regime. During the rainy season, herbaceous species diversity and richness were the least in the CG regime but similar in the CC and SG regimes. This similarity, however, changed during the dry season when the SG regime is grazed by livestock that led to a reduction in diversity. These results suggest that CC is superior to the traditional CG, but not always necessarily superior to the SG. The SG regime improved soil P status while the CG regime affected soil bulk density and total N negatively. The predominantly native vegetation grazing systems in Tigrai region can be improved cost effectively through cut-and-carry and seasonal grazing.
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spelling CGSpace567792023-12-08T19:43:41Z Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system Habtemicael, M. Yayneshet, T. Treydte, A.C. mixed farming Three grazing regimes [Cut-and-carry (CC), seasonal grazing (SG) and continuous grazing (CG)] currently applied in Tigrai region of northern Ethiopia were compared to identify the best grazing management in key native vegetation and soil attributes. More than 50% of the desirable species such as Andropogon, Cynodon and Phalaris spp were located in the CC and SG regimes. During the rainy season, the CC regime produced 1.7 and 2.7 more biomass than the SG and CG regimes, respectively. Herbaceous basal cover was 6.8 times more in the CC than in the CG regime. During the rainy season, herbaceous species diversity and richness were the least in the CG regime but similar in the CC and SG regimes. This similarity, however, changed during the dry season when the SG regime is grazed by livestock that led to a reduction in diversity. These results suggest that CC is superior to the traditional CG, but not always necessarily superior to the SG. The SG regime improved soil P status while the CG regime affected soil bulk density and total N negatively. The predominantly native vegetation grazing systems in Tigrai region can be improved cost effectively through cut-and-carry and seasonal grazing. 2015-03 2015-02-17T12:13:54Z 2015-02-17T12:13:54Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/56779 en Open Access Wiley Habtemicael, M., Yayneshet, T. and Treydte, A.C. 2015. Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system. African Journal of Ecology 53(1):75–82.
spellingShingle mixed farming
Habtemicael, M.
Yayneshet, T.
Treydte, A.C.
Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system
title Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system
title_full Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system
title_fullStr Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system
title_full_unstemmed Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system
title_short Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system
title_sort responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi arid highland mixed crop livestock system
topic mixed farming
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/56779
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