Title:[SI_Forage] Trade-offs between artificial forage yield and quality under multiple mowing enhance grass-livestock system balance on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Authors:Jing Zhang*, Shuaijun Hou, Muhammad Usman, Fujiang Hou*, Zhibiao Nan

Journal:Journal of Integrative Agriculture

Impact factor:IF2024= 4.4

Abstract:Globally grassland ecosystems are facing unprecedented threats from continuous degradation and about 49% of grasslands are experiencing varying degrees of degradation. Resolving the imbalance between available forage and livestock demand is a major issue for grassland ecosystems. Transforming natural grasslands, which are on the brink of ecological collapse and have extremely high repair costs, into mowing grasslands can simultaneous address forage deficiency and also reduce the cost of long-distance transportation. Exploring the biomass yield and forage quality of multiple-mowing grasslands on the QTP is essential for calculating its construction scale. For this purpose, we conducted a grass-legumes cultivation experiment on the southeastern edge of the QTP and performed multiple mowing experiments. The results showed that compared to one-time harvesting during the growth period, multiple mowing significantly improved the biomass yield and nutritional quality of the grass, and gradually balanced towards quality as the mowing process progressed. Based on the experimental results, we used the current livestock loss rates in the QTP as a reference and further established different supplementary feeding modes from an energy supply perspective. Finally, we conclude that under the premise of no restriction on feeding, the artificial grassland needs to be increased to 2.22-9.38 times the current area. Under the restriction on feeding, the QTP needs to increase by 1.55-9.38 times, and the corresponding natural grassland area needs to be reduced by 3.96-16.75% and 2.77-16.75% respectively to meet the energy demand-supply. These results provide data support for grassland management planning in the QTP and inform the development of feasible strategies for improving the grass-livestock dynamics in the QTP.

Linkage:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jia.2025.09.010