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An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Pasture biomass and quality are dependent on herbivore grazing and precipitation, but the responses of vegetation to the interactive effects of climate and grazing regimes remain unclear. We conducted an eight-year sheep grazing experiment with 4 stocking rates (0, 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 sheep/ha) in an...

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Autores principales: Yao, Xixi, Li, Changhui, Ahmad, Anum Ali, Tariq, Akash, Degen, A. Allan, Bai, Yanfu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9730035/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36507381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1020033
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author Yao, Xixi
Li, Changhui
Ahmad, Anum Ali
Tariq, Akash
Degen, A. Allan
Bai, Yanfu
author_facet Yao, Xixi
Li, Changhui
Ahmad, Anum Ali
Tariq, Akash
Degen, A. Allan
Bai, Yanfu
author_sort Yao, Xixi
collection PubMed
description Pasture biomass and quality are dependent on herbivore grazing and precipitation, but the responses of vegetation to the interactive effects of climate and grazing regimes remain unclear. We conducted an eight-year sheep grazing experiment with 4 stocking rates (0, 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 sheep/ha) in an alpine meadow of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and forage nutritional value (FNV) of four dominant species (Poa annua, Kobresia humilis, Astragalus adsurgens and Potentilla fruticosa) were measured during a wet year (360 mm rainfall) and a drought year (216 mm rainfall). The FNV was used as indicator of forage quality and was calculated from the crude protein (CP) content, in vitro true dry matter digestibility (IVTD), metabolic energy (ME) yield, and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content of the plant. The stocking rate explained a minimum of 76% of the variations of ANPP, and the precipitation sub-additive effect for ANPP ranged from 5% to 12%. The interaction of sheep stocking rate and precipitation affected ANPP of the 4 species, except for P. fruticosa. The FNV of the pasture increased with increasing grazing pressure, but ANPP and forage nutritional yield (FNY) decreased. In calculating FNY, the increase in FNV did not compensate for the decrease in ANPP. In non-grazed plots, the CP yield declined sharply (18%-55%) in response to drought, but there was no effect on ME yield. The interaction between stocking rate and precipitation affected forage quality of the 4 plant species differently. The grassland ANPP and FNY could be maintained at a grazing intensity of 3.5 sheep/ha in wet and dry years. Our results highlight that stocking density affects pasture ANPP and FNV, and is contingent on rainfall.
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spelling pubmed-97300352022-12-09 An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Yao, Xixi Li, Changhui Ahmad, Anum Ali Tariq, Akash Degen, A. Allan Bai, Yanfu Front Plant Sci Plant Science Pasture biomass and quality are dependent on herbivore grazing and precipitation, but the responses of vegetation to the interactive effects of climate and grazing regimes remain unclear. We conducted an eight-year sheep grazing experiment with 4 stocking rates (0, 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 sheep/ha) in an alpine meadow of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and forage nutritional value (FNV) of four dominant species (Poa annua, Kobresia humilis, Astragalus adsurgens and Potentilla fruticosa) were measured during a wet year (360 mm rainfall) and a drought year (216 mm rainfall). The FNV was used as indicator of forage quality and was calculated from the crude protein (CP) content, in vitro true dry matter digestibility (IVTD), metabolic energy (ME) yield, and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content of the plant. The stocking rate explained a minimum of 76% of the variations of ANPP, and the precipitation sub-additive effect for ANPP ranged from 5% to 12%. The interaction of sheep stocking rate and precipitation affected ANPP of the 4 species, except for P. fruticosa. The FNV of the pasture increased with increasing grazing pressure, but ANPP and forage nutritional yield (FNY) decreased. In calculating FNY, the increase in FNV did not compensate for the decrease in ANPP. In non-grazed plots, the CP yield declined sharply (18%-55%) in response to drought, but there was no effect on ME yield. The interaction between stocking rate and precipitation affected forage quality of the 4 plant species differently. The grassland ANPP and FNY could be maintained at a grazing intensity of 3.5 sheep/ha in wet and dry years. Our results highlight that stocking density affects pasture ANPP and FNV, and is contingent on rainfall. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-11-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9730035/ /pubmed/36507381 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1020033 Text en Copyright © 2022 Yao, Li, Ahmad, Tariq, Degen and Bai https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Yao, Xixi
Li, Changhui
Ahmad, Anum Ali
Tariq, Akash
Degen, A. Allan
Bai, Yanfu
An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
title An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
title_full An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
title_fullStr An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
title_full_unstemmed An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
title_short An increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
title_sort increase in livestock density increases forage nutritional value but decreases net primary production and annual forage nutritional yield in the alpine grassland of the qinghai-tibetan plateau
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9730035/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36507381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1020033
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