Patch Burning Improves Forage Quality and Creates Grass-Bank in Old-Field Pasture: Results of a Demonstration Trial
Patch Burning Improves Forage Quality and Creates Grass-Bank in Old-Field Pasture: Results of a Demonstration Trial
复制标题
斑块燃烧提高了牧草质量并在老田牧场中建立了草库：示范试验的结果
DOI：
10.1656/058.013.0203
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发表时间：
2014
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
C. K. Smith
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D. McGranahan;D. McGranahan;C. B. Henderson;Jonas S. Hill;Gina M. Raicovich;W. Wilson;C. K. Smith
摘要
基于异质性的牧场管理的生态系统效益已被广泛记录，但很少有研究从牲畜的角度探讨基于生态的放牧系统。火灾和放牧管理可以促进美国东南部老牧场的保护目标，但基于火灾的自然区域管理放牧的可行性仍然未知。火灾是美国东南部的一个自然过程，可以提高当地植被的饲料质量。我们报告的结果，从补丁燃烧放牧试验在田纳西州东部的16公顷的牧场，我们预测，火灾将增加粗蛋白含量的立场和放牧将集中在燃烧补丁。我们测量了整个放牧季节（4月至9月）的粗蛋白质含量，预计饲料质量下降，饲料成熟。我们还采样了粪拍密度，分蘖高度，在燃烧和未燃烧的地区，在5月和7月的食草动物的频率来描述放牧的空间分布之前和之后的四周干旱。粗蛋白质含量下降，生物量增加火灾后，在两个采样期，粪拍密度和频率的草食动物较高，分蘖高度较低的烧伤补丁。虽然占主导地位的原生草被广泛认为具有低饲料质量，火大幅增加粗蛋白质含量在这项研究中。我们讨论了有限的生产力之间的采样事件驱动放牧在未燃烧的地区，作为一个草银行。
Abstract
Ecosystem benefits of heterogeneity-based rangeland management have been widely documented, but little research has explored ecologically based grazing systems from the livestock perspective. Fire and grazing management can advance conservation goals in old-field pasture stands in the southeastern US, but the viability of fire-based grazing for natural areas management remains unknown. Fire is a natural process in the southeastern US that can increase the forage quality of native vegetation. We report results from a patch-burn—grazing trial on a 16-ha pasture in eastern Tennessee, in which we predicted that fire would increase the crude-protein content of the stand and grazing would be concentrated in the burned patch. We measured crude protein content for the entire grazing season (April–September), expecting forage quality to decrease as forage matured. We also sampled fecal-pat density, tiller height, and frequency of herbivory in the burned and unburned areas in May and July to describe the spatial distribution of grazing before and after a four-week drought. Crude-protein content decreased as biomass increased following the fire, and in both sampling periods, fecal-pat density and frequency of herbivory were higher and tiller height was lower in the burned patch. Although the dominant native grass is widely perceived to have low forage quality, fire substantially increased crude-protein content in this study. We discuss how limited productivity between sampling events drove grazing in the unburned area, which acted as a grass-bank.