The effect of pasture rotation, alternate grazing, grazing with horses from other herds or the spread of horse dung on the pasture was also investigated but not significant.
Such experiments have shown that meadows of high MLG diversity (many different clones) better resist periods of intense grazing, grazing from specific grazers, extreme weather conditions, and have higher productivity and biomass of associated invertebrate fauna than meadows of low MLG diversity (few clones) [ 4, 12, 13].
Eighteen years after one-off shrub removal by ploughing we assessed the effects of four different land management systems resulting from two levels each of grazing (grazed, ungrazed) with and without ploughing, on the cover of landscape units, soil surface condition, diversity of understorey plants and density of shrubs.
Foraging activity consists in sheep grazing pasture or moving during grazing bouts [28] [29].
For livestock, reduced movement and increased time spent grazing encourage grazing practices that increase heterogeneous grazing at a pasture scale.
Groups 11-13 came into contact with the infected flock only at pasture, for varying lengths of time, while Groups 8-9 had no direct contact with sheep, but grazed pasture previously grazed by the infected flock, again for varying lengths of time.
The boundaries of the three grazing intensity zones (rest from grazing, light grazing, moderate grazing and heavy grazing) were defined along each transect19.
The management considered include rangeland improvement (reseeding, irrigation, fertilization and grazing prohibition), rangeland utilization (rest from grazing, light grazing and moderate grazing), and livestock production (intensive feeding systems) (Table 1).
To determine the dominant factor affecting changes in grazing season length, ∆L grazing, we define ∆L grazing, biomass, ∆L grazing, frost, ∆L grazing, snow, and ∆L grazing, wet as the individual contribution from changes on above-ground biomass availability, air temperature, snow cover, and soil moisture conditions respectively on the ∆L grazing.
CH4 emissions from livestock under rest from grazing, light grazing, moderate grazing and heavy grazing were 2.73, 2.83, 5.49 and 8.23 kg ha−1 y−1, respectively, in Sichuan province; 2.82, 2.75, 5.41 and 7.59 kg ha−1 y−1 in Xinjiang autonomous region; and 2.89, 2.81, 5.31 and 8.38 kg ha−1 y−1 in Inner Mongolia autonomous region (Fig. 1).
Common practices promoted in government programs include rest from grazing, light grazing and moderate grazing.
