Plant Sciences Commons^™

Litter Decomposition And Root Production In Response To Grazing On Sandhills Subirrigated Meadow, Ben W. Beckman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Stocking density can be manipulated by management factors including herd size, pasture size, and grazing period length. Ultrahigh stocking density (mob grazing) is commonly characterized at 200,000 kg animal live weight ha^-1 or higher with multiple movements of livestock per day. Practitioners claim increased plant production, soil development, and nutrient cycling rates because of high trampling percentages resulting from ultrahigh socking densities. This study was conducted on subirrigated meadow in the Nebraska Sandhills in 2012 and 2013 to determine grazing method effect on annual root production and litter decomposition. Stocking rates were held constant while stocking densities varied by …