Abstract
Cattle grazing is an important economic activity in the tallgrass prairie systems in the Great Plains of the United States. Tallgrass prairie may respond differently to grazing management (e.g., high and low grazing intensity) under variable climate conditions. This study investigated the responses of two replicated (rep a and rep b) tallgrass prairie systems to continuous (C) and rotational (R) grazing under different climate conditions over a decade (2008–2017). The enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and gross primary productivity (GPP) were compared between grazing systems (C vs. R), while EVI was compared among paddocks under rotational grazing to show the impacts of time since grazing. The average EVI in rep a was usually higher than that in rep b which could be explained by different land characteristics (e.g., soil types) associated with different landscape positions. Similar to EVI, GPP was usually higher in rep a than rep b. The average growing season EVI and GPP were higher in rotational grazing than continuous grazing in rep b but not in rep a. The average EVI of paddocks in rotational grazing systems only converged in the growing season-long drought year (2011). In other years, EVI values varied from year to year and no paddock consistently outperformed others. The variations in EVI among rotational grazing paddocks in both reps were relatively small, indicating that rotational grazing generated an even grazing pressure on vegetation at annual scale. Overall, climate and inherent pasture conditions were the major drivers of plant productivity. However, the stocking rate in continuous grazing systems were reduced over years because of deteriorating pasture conditions. Thus, the results indirectly indicate that rotational grazing improved grassland productivity and had higher stocking capacity than continuous grazing systems under variable climate conditions. Adaptive grazing management (adjustment in stocking rates and season of use to adapt to changing climatic conditions) instead of a fixed management system might be better for farmers to cooperate with changing climatic conditions.
Highlights
Tallgrass prairie systems are important forage sources for beef cattle in the Great Plains of the United States [1] where cattle production is a major revenue for farmers in the region [2]
In order to study the impacts of different grazing management under variable climate conditions, this study examined the vegetation phenology and productivity of tallgrass prairies in two pairs of continuous (C) and rotational (R) grazing systems during a span of ten years (2008–2017)
This study provided a direct comparison of vegetation productivity in continuous and rotational grazing management systems in tallgrass prairies of the Southern Great Plains
Summary
Tallgrass prairie systems are important forage sources for beef cattle in the Great Plains of the United States [1] where cattle production is a major revenue for farmers in the region [2]. Agronomy 2019, 9, 219 grazing acts as an effective way to maintain the prairie landscape [3,4]. In contrast to year-long (or growing season) continuous grazing, rotational grazing has been recommended as an effective tool to maximize livestock production and maintain sustainability of the operations since the mid-20th century [5,6,7,8,9]. There has been a long history of debate over continuous versus rotational grazing by both rangeland managers and research scientists across the world that is yet not resolved [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
