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Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Canadian grasslands are recognized for providing high quality forage for grazing livestock and wildlife. The study was conducted on a re-established pasture in a Western Canadian semi-arid climate to investigate the effect of pasture species mixture and grazing management on pasture...

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Autores principales: Alemu, Aklilu W., Kröbel, Roland, McConkey, Brian G., Iwaasa, Alan D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6523940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30934844
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9040127
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author Alemu, Aklilu W.
Kröbel, Roland
McConkey, Brian G.
Iwaasa, Alan D.
author_facet Alemu, Aklilu W.
Kröbel, Roland
McConkey, Brian G.
Iwaasa, Alan D.
author_sort Alemu, Aklilu W.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Canadian grasslands are recognized for providing high quality forage for grazing livestock and wildlife. The study was conducted on a re-established pasture in a Western Canadian semi-arid climate to investigate the effect of pasture species mixture and grazing management on pasture productivity, animal performance, and soil carbon sequestration. Pasture productivity and animal response were independent of pasture mixture but affected by grazing management. Average pasture dry matter productivity was greater with deferred-rotational grazing while pasture quality and animal gain were higher with continuous grazing. Soil carbon change varied with pasture seed mixture and grazing management interaction where pasture with 7-species mixture under continuous grazing had the lowest soil carbon gain. ABSTRACT: The objective of the study was to determine the effect of type of pasture mix and grazing management on pasture productivity, animal response and soil organic carbon (SOC) level. Pasture was established in 2001 on 16 paddocks of 2.1 ha that had been primarily in wheat and summer fallow. Treatments consisted of a completely randomized experimental design with two replicates: two pasture mixes (7-species (7-mix) and 12-species (12-mix)) and two grazing systems (continuous grazing (CG) and deferred-rotational grazing (DRG)). Pasture was stocked with commercial yearling Angus steers (Bos Taurus, 354 ± 13 kg) between 2005 and 2014. All pastures were grazed to an average utilization rate of 50% (40% to 60%). Average peak and pre-grazing pasture dry matter (DM) yield and animal response were independent of pasture seed mixture but varied with grazing management and production year. Average peak DM yield was 26.4% higher (p = 0.0003) for pasture under DRG relative to CG (1301 kg ha(−1)). However, total digestible nutrient for pasture under DRG was 4% lower (p < 0.0001) as compared to CG (60.2%). Average daily weight gain was 18% higher (p = 0.017) for CG than DRG (0.81 kg d(−1)), likely related to higher pasture quality under CG. Soil carbon sequestration was affected by seed mixture × grazing system interaction (p ≤ 0.004). Over the fourteen years of production, pasture with 7-mix under CG had the lowest (p < 0.01) average SOC stock at 15 cm (24.5 Mg ha(−1)) and 30 cm depth (42.3 Mg ha(−1)). Overall, the results from our study implied that increasing species diversity for pasture managed under CG may increase SOC gain while improving animal productivity.
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spelling pubmed-65239402019-06-04 Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie Alemu, Aklilu W. Kröbel, Roland McConkey, Brian G. Iwaasa, Alan D. Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Canadian grasslands are recognized for providing high quality forage for grazing livestock and wildlife. The study was conducted on a re-established pasture in a Western Canadian semi-arid climate to investigate the effect of pasture species mixture and grazing management on pasture productivity, animal performance, and soil carbon sequestration. Pasture productivity and animal response were independent of pasture mixture but affected by grazing management. Average pasture dry matter productivity was greater with deferred-rotational grazing while pasture quality and animal gain were higher with continuous grazing. Soil carbon change varied with pasture seed mixture and grazing management interaction where pasture with 7-species mixture under continuous grazing had the lowest soil carbon gain. ABSTRACT: The objective of the study was to determine the effect of type of pasture mix and grazing management on pasture productivity, animal response and soil organic carbon (SOC) level. Pasture was established in 2001 on 16 paddocks of 2.1 ha that had been primarily in wheat and summer fallow. Treatments consisted of a completely randomized experimental design with two replicates: two pasture mixes (7-species (7-mix) and 12-species (12-mix)) and two grazing systems (continuous grazing (CG) and deferred-rotational grazing (DRG)). Pasture was stocked with commercial yearling Angus steers (Bos Taurus, 354 ± 13 kg) between 2005 and 2014. All pastures were grazed to an average utilization rate of 50% (40% to 60%). Average peak and pre-grazing pasture dry matter (DM) yield and animal response were independent of pasture seed mixture but varied with grazing management and production year. Average peak DM yield was 26.4% higher (p = 0.0003) for pasture under DRG relative to CG (1301 kg ha(−1)). However, total digestible nutrient for pasture under DRG was 4% lower (p < 0.0001) as compared to CG (60.2%). Average daily weight gain was 18% higher (p = 0.017) for CG than DRG (0.81 kg d(−1)), likely related to higher pasture quality under CG. Soil carbon sequestration was affected by seed mixture × grazing system interaction (p ≤ 0.004). Over the fourteen years of production, pasture with 7-mix under CG had the lowest (p < 0.01) average SOC stock at 15 cm (24.5 Mg ha(−1)) and 30 cm depth (42.3 Mg ha(−1)). Overall, the results from our study implied that increasing species diversity for pasture managed under CG may increase SOC gain while improving animal productivity. MDPI 2019-03-29 /pmc/articles/PMC6523940/ /pubmed/30934844 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9040127 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Alemu, Aklilu W.
Kröbel, Roland
McConkey, Brian G.
Iwaasa, Alan D.
Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie
title Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie
title_full Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie
title_fullStr Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie
title_short Effect of Increasing Species Diversity and Grazing Management on Pasture Productivity, Animal Performance, and Soil Carbon Sequestration of Re-Established Pasture in Canadian Prairie
title_sort effect of increasing species diversity and grazing management on pasture productivity, animal performance, and soil carbon sequestration of re-established pasture in canadian prairie
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6523940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30934844
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9040127
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