Effects of Grazing Intensity on Plant Community Characteristics and Nutrient Quality of Herbage in a Meadow Steppe
ZHANG Yu, HOU LuLu, YAN RuiRui,, XIN XiaoPingInstitute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Beijing 100081
Abstract 【Objective】 Plant community characteristics are sensitive indicators to changes in ecosystem function of grasslands. In order to understand the processes and mechanisms characterizing grassland degradation with grazing, the characteristics and quality changes of grassland plants under different grazing intensities were examined to provide theoretical grounds for ecological restoration of degraded grasslands. 【Method】 Based on a grazing experiment with six different grazing intensities that targeted at the Hulunber meadow steppe, changes in community characteristics, community diversity, and community functional groups were measured by the standard rangeland ecological methodology, whilst the nutritional quality of herbage plants was determined by the national procedure for chemically analyzing crude cellulose, crude protein and raw fat components of vegetal feed. The six grazing intensities are control area G0.00: 0, light grazing G0.23: 0.23 cow.AU/hm2, lighter grazing G0.34: 0.34 cow.AU/hm2, moderate grazing G0.46: 0.46 cow.AU/hm2, heavier grazing G0.69: 0.69 cow.AU/hm2, and heavy grazing G0.92: 0.92 cow.AU/hm2. 【Result】 The canopy height, coverage, total biomass, biomass of the dominant species, root biomass, and litter biomass had decreased significantly at the grazing intensities greater than 0.34 cow.AU/hm2 (P<0.05), whereas the phytomass of increasers (Artemisia frigida, Potentilla bifurca, Potentilla acaulis, and Carex duriuscula) increased significantly (P<0.05). With the increase in grazing intensity, the community diversity index showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing, with the maximum community diversity index occurred at the grazing intensities of 0.34-0.46 cow.AU/hm2. The dominance value of grasses decreased significantly with increases in grazing intensity. In stark contrast, those for forbs and annuals increased apparently with increasing grazing intensity. The important values of functional groups of grasses and their dominant plants gradually decreased with the increase of grazing intensity. When the grazing intensity was greater than 0.23 cow.AU/hm2, the important values of dominant plants significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the important values of sedges and degenera significantly increased (P<0.05). Of special note, the various grazing intensities all enhanced the contents of crude protein, crude ash, total phosphorus, calcium, and nitrogen-free exudates to varying degrees of all plant species as a whole, but significantly reduced the contents of crude fat, neutral detergent fiber, and crude fiber (P<0.05). The four indexes of α diversity were positively correlated with one another (P<0.01), positively correlated with the important values of legumes and heterophytes, and negatively correlated with the important values of gramineae. The important values of gramineae and ranunculaceae were significantly negatively related to the contents of acid washing fiber and calcium of the plants, whilst they were significantly positively related to the neutral washing fiber. 【Conclusion】 Different grazing intensities differed substantially in their effects on the community traits, diversity characters and nutritional quality of this meadow steppe. The appropriate grazing intensity was between 0.23-0.34 cow.AU/hm2. Moderate grazing was conducive to improving the species diversity of the community, maintaining the stability of the grassland plant community, and promoting the sustainable development of the grassland ecosystem. Keywords:grazing intensity;meadow steppe;community characteristics;nutritional quality
PDF (562KB)元数据多维度评价相关文章导出EndNote|Ris|Bibtex收藏本文 本文引用格式 张宇, 侯路路, 闫瑞瑞, 辛晓平. 放牧强度对草甸草原植物群落特征及营养品质的影响[J]. 中国农业科学, 2020, 53(13): 2550-2561 doi:10.3864/j.issn.0578-1752.2020.13.004 ZHANG Yu, HOU LuLu, YAN RuiRui, XIN XiaoPing. Effects of Grazing Intensity on Plant Community Characteristics and Nutrient Quality of Herbage in a Meadow Steppe[J]. Scientia Acricultura Sinica, 2020, 53(13): 2550-2561 doi:10.3864/j.issn.0578-1752.2020.13.004
Table 1 表1 表1不同放牧强度下植物群落数量特征 Table 1The quantitative characteristics of plant community under different grazing intensities
指标 Index
G0.00
G0.23
G0.34
G0.46
G0.69
G0.92
物种数Number of species
39.67±1.45a
45.33±4.18a
45.67±0.88a
44.00±1.53a
45.67±2.19a
46.33±0.88a
群落盖度Community coverage
84.65±0.63a
80.25±1.16ab
80.12±1.80ab
78.01±1.34b
78.23±1.49b
68.84±2.87c
群落高度Community height
22.40±2.41a
17.64±0.24b
17.64±0.97b
13.30±0.64c
10.65±0.81cd
7.13±0.09d
群落密度Community density
605.27±1.94b
661.67±70.25b
541.60±44.69b
729.13±77.41b
1,262.73±247.85a
843.07±16.15b
丰富度指数Margalef index
3.61±0.26b
4.13±0.32ab
4.33±0.05a
4.21±0.04ab
3.84±0.23ab
4.08±0.07ab
多样性指数Shannon-Weiner index
2.51±0.09b
2.66±0.10ab
2.84±0.03a
2.85±0.02a
2.60±0.15ab
2.73±0.05ab
优势度指数Simpson index
0.85±0.01b
0.87±0.02ab
0.91±0.01a
0.91±0.01a
0.88±0.01ab
0.88±0.01ab
均匀度指数Pielou index
0.79±0.01a
0.81±0.02a
0.85±0.01a
0.85±0.01a
0.78±0.04a
0.82±0.02a
不同小写字母表示在不同放牧强度下差异显著(P<0.05)。下同 Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference under different grazing intensities (P<0.05). The same as below
优势物种包括羊草和贝加尔针茅;退化指示物种包括冷蒿、二裂委陵菜、星毛委陵菜和寸草苔。不同小写字母表示不同放牧强度之间差异显著(P<0.05)。下同 Fig. 3Biomass changes of plant communities under different grazing intensities
The dominant species include Leymus chinensis and Stipa baicalensis; The degraded indicator species include Artemisia frigida, Potentilla bifurca, Potentilla acaulis and Carex duriuscula C.A.Mey.. Different lower case letters mean significant difference among four grazing intensities at 0.05 level. The same as below
Table 2 表2 表2植物群落特征、功能群以及营养品质之间的相关关系 Table 2The relationships among plant community characteristics, plant functional groups and plant nutritional quality
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