Abstract
Grazing intensity (GI) is a major determining factor that controls the functioning of rangelands and the overall nutrient cycle. The Teltele rangeland is used for communal grazing area by the local pastorals; however, to date, there is no documented study data about the impact of GI. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of grazing intensity on selected soil properties in the Teltele rangeland, Ethiopia. Soil samples were collected from different GI sites using different elevation gradient and soil depth from both open grazing and bush-encroached grazing land sand-assessed soil properties. Grazing intensity, elevation, and soil depth significantly (p < 0.05) affected both soils’ physical and chemical properties but rangeland types had no significant effect. The correlation analysis of soil characteristics with the principal component analysis axes showed significant variation. The highly weighted and correlated properties under principal component 1 (PC1) were electrical conductivity, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and potassium, and under principal component 2, sand and bulk density with equal loaded value (r = −0.998), clay and silt, with silt (0.962) a more loaded one. Soil pH (0.743) demonstrated a significant (p < 0.05) positive correlation with sodium (−0.960) at PC1 (r = 0.610). Based on our results, we recommend further model-based studies on spatial–temporal change of soil properties due to impact of grazing intensity, combined with GIS and remote sensing data to be developed for sustainable rangeland management.
Highlights
Rangelands are lands on which the indigenous vegetation is predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, or shrubs and is managed as a natural ecosystem (Raj, 2005)
This study aimed to address the following basic questions that can be used for effective implementation of management strategies and fill the knowledge gap mentioned above: 1) Is the significant difference observed in the soil properties due to variation of Grazing intensity (GI)? 2) Does variation of grazing land type (GLT) had an impact on soil structure? 3) What is the interaction impact of GI with elevation (E) and soil depth (SD) on the soil properties? We hypothesized that 1) GI strongly affected soil properties, 2) GI had a similar impact on the soil properties both at the open grazing site and bush-encroached grazing site, and 3) interaction impact of GI, E, and Soil depth (SD) is significant on the Teltele rangeland
We can understand that both levels of GI, E, and SD, had significant (p < 0.05) effects whereas Grazing land type (GLT) (OGL and bush encouraged (BE)) had no significant (p > 0.05) effect on all of the soil physical properties
Summary
Rangelands are lands on which the indigenous vegetation is predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, or shrubs and is managed as a natural ecosystem (Raj, 2005). Arid and semi-arid rangelands are heterogeneous in space and time because of variation in biotic and abiotic factors related to vegetation and soil properties and provide multiple ecosystem functions and services (Wang et al, 2016; Yang et al, 2016). Rangeland heterogeneity shapes vegetation structure and productivity (IPCC, 2013; Yigini and Panagos, 2016; Ademe et al, 2017). Variability in soil properties is a major main cause of rangeland heterogeneity (Ayalew, 2011). The major properties include soil textural, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), and soil pH (Liu et al, 2011b; Abdalla et al, 2018). The primary use of the Teltele rangelands of Grazing Impact on Rangeland Soil
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