Managing Tallgrass Prairies for Productivity and Ecological Function: A Long-Term Grazing Experiment in the Southern Great Plains, USA

Steiner, Jean L.; Starks, Patrick J.; Neel, J. P. S.; Northup, Brian K.; Turner, Kenneth E.; Gowda, Prasanna H.; Coleman, S. W.; Brown, Michael A.

doi:10.3390/agronomy9110699

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…This paper focuses on the responses of vegetation phenology and productivity to climate and grazing management systems. Other aspects of these systems are discussed in Steiner et al, 2019;Starks et al, 2019;Ma et al, etc [37-39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

et al. 2019

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

et al. 2019

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“…It contains two review articles dealing with: (1) Concepts for monitoring grassland degradation and (2) the impacts of alternative management practices and disturbances, including restoration. We add that while describing the initial results from a major grazing experiment in the Southern Great Plains of the USA, Steiner et al ( [11]. introduced and summarized a series of papers in this special issue.…”

Section: Special Issue Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grassland Management for Sustainable Agroecosystems

Bellocchi

Chabbi

2020

Agronomy

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Knowledge on sustainable grassland management is available in the large body of literature. However, it is unclear where to look for it, and what is really relevant to the many interrelated challenges of sustainable grassland management. This special issue illustrates options to fill some of those gaps. This editorial introduces the Special Issue entitled “Grassland Management for Sustainable Agroecosystems”. Two review articles deal with (i) concepts for monitoring grassland degradation (by Tiscornia et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 239) and (ii) impacts of alternative management practices and disturbances (by Wagle and Gowda et al. Agronomy 2018, 8, 300). One paper (by Steiner et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 699). summarized a series of papers of the special issue. Other topics covered include four main aspects: (I) Landscape features (Ravetto Enri et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 333), two papers by Northup et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 329, Northup et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 281, and Ma et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 238; (II) climate (Zhou et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 219, Starks et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 235, and Moinet et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 124); (III) soil fertility (Franzluebbers et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 204, Poblete-Grant et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 191); and (IV) one on modeling (Puche et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 183). Two additional papers are from Andueza et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 273 (on the feed value of barn-dried hay) and Úbeda et al. Agronomy 2019, 9, 340 (on the role of prescribed burns).

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“…Replicates with rotational stocking were further divided into 10 nearly equally sized sub-paddocks. Stocking rate was~0.25 head ha −1 with cow-calf pairs [27]. Continuous stocking had livestock present from March to October, while rotational stocking had several (1)(2)(3) week-long grazing events per year on any particular sub-paddock.…”

Section: Experimental Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2009, 40 soil sampling sites were located within each replicate using a stratified sampling design, where the strata were composed of soil mapping units in the area (downloaded from the NRCS Geospatial Data Gateway: https://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/GDGOrder.aspx) [27]. Number of sampling sites for a given strata within a field replicate was based on an area weighted average of the soil mapping units.…”

Section: Soil Sampling and Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation of Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Fractions in a Tallgrass Prairie in Oklahoma

2019

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Native grasslands in the Great Plains of North America have mostly disappeared in the past century due to agricultural expansion. A grazing study was established on Paleustolls and Argiustolls supporting a remnant, but historically grazed tallgrass prairie in central Oklahoma. Stocking method of beef cattle was differentiated into continuous and rotational treatments (10 sub-paddocks) in 2009 and these treatments continued until present. Soil was sampled in 2009 and 2012 at depths of 0–6, 6–12, 12–20, and 20–30 cm and in 2017 at depths of 0–15 and 15–30 cm. Total, particulate, microbial biomass, and mineralizable C and N fractions were highly stratified with depth, having 2–10 times greater concentration at a depth of 0–6 cm as that at 20–30 cm. Strong associations existed among most of these soil organic C and N fractions, given the large range that resulted from sampling at multiple depths. No discernable differences in soil organic C and N fractions occurred due to stocking method at any sampling time or depth. Evidence for biological nitrification inhibition suggested a mechanism for conservation of available N with less opportunity for loss. In addition, strong association of available N with biologically active C indicated slow, but sustained release of N that was strongly coupled to C cycling. We conclude that stocking method had a neutral effect on conservation of already high antecedent conditions of soil organic C and N fractions during the first 8 years of differentially imposed management.

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Managing Tallgrass Prairies for Productivity and Ecological Function: A Long-Term Grazing Experiment in the Southern Great Plains, USA

Cited by 16 publications

References 55 publications

Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

Grassland Management for Sustainable Agroecosystems

Conservation of Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Fractions in a Tallgrass Prairie in Oklahoma

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