Animal husbandry and crop farming are specialized for development in separate areas on the Tibetan Plateau. Such a pattern of isolation has led to current concerns of rangeland and farming system degradation due to in...Animal husbandry and crop farming are specialized for development in separate areas on the Tibetan Plateau. Such a pattern of isolation has led to current concerns of rangeland and farming system degradation due to intensive land use. The crop-livestock integration, however, has been proven to increase food and feed productivity thorough niche complementarity, and is thereby especially effective for promoting ecosystem resilience. Regional synergy has emerged as an integrated approach to reconcile rangeland livestock with forage crop production. It moves beyond the specialized sectors of animal husbandry and intensive agriculture to coordinate them through regional coupling. Therefore, crop-livestock integration(CLI) has been suggested as one of the effective solutions to forage deficit and livestock production in grazing systems. But it is imperative that CLI moves forward from the farm level to the regional scale, in order to secure regional synergism during agro-pastoral development. The national key R & D program, Technology and Demonstration of Recovery and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau, aims to solve the problems of alpine grassland degradation by building up a grass-based animal husbandry technology system that includes synergizing forage production and ecological functioning, reconciling the relationship between ecology, forage production and animal husbandry, and achieving the win-win goals of curbing grassland degradation and changing the development mode of animal husbandry. It is imperative to call for regional synergy through integrating ecological functioning with ecosystem services, given the alarming threat of rangeland degradation on the Tibetan Plateau. The series of papers in this issue, together with those published previously, provide a collection of rangeland ecology and management studies in an effort to ensure the sustainable use and management of the alpine ecosystems.展开更多
Crop-livestock integration(CLI)is a significant practice for livestock grazing systems in alpine rangelands.It offers the potential to achieve sustainable crop and livestock production.However,the separate crop and li...Crop-livestock integration(CLI)is a significant practice for livestock grazing systems in alpine rangelands.It offers the potential to achieve sustainable crop and livestock production.However,the separate crop and livestock systems that exist today have led to issues of intensive agriculture,rangeland degradation and forage shortage in the Tibetan Plateau.Developing crop-livestock integration through sown pastures can be an effective way to lift pasture productivity and improve livestock production.Thus,to explore the potential for integrating crop and livestock production in alpine grazing systems,an assessment of potential forage and livestock production using multiple datasets was carried out in Burang County,China.Results showed the marginal land potentially available for sown pastures was about 560 ha,located mostly in the Burang township of the Karnali basin.Accumulated temperature was the dominant limiting factor for establishing sown pastures,therefore cold tolerance of forage species and growth period should be taken into consideration.Furthermore,the number of livestock decreased during the period 2012–2016;yet often,the number of livestock in rangeland landscape was greater than that in agro-pastoral landscape.The average number of livestock was about 110000 standard sheep units(SU)in the study area,but forage from sown pastures and crop residues could potentially feed about 11000 SU,accounting for 50%of the livestock population in the Karnali basin.We found that integrating crop and forage production could fill feed gaps for grazing systems,particularly in the agro-pastoral landscape of the Karnali basin.The results of this study provide scientific support to guide future forage production and to promote further crop and livestock integration in Burang County.展开更多
基金The National Key Research and Development Program(2016YFC0502001)。
文摘Animal husbandry and crop farming are specialized for development in separate areas on the Tibetan Plateau. Such a pattern of isolation has led to current concerns of rangeland and farming system degradation due to intensive land use. The crop-livestock integration, however, has been proven to increase food and feed productivity thorough niche complementarity, and is thereby especially effective for promoting ecosystem resilience. Regional synergy has emerged as an integrated approach to reconcile rangeland livestock with forage crop production. It moves beyond the specialized sectors of animal husbandry and intensive agriculture to coordinate them through regional coupling. Therefore, crop-livestock integration(CLI) has been suggested as one of the effective solutions to forage deficit and livestock production in grazing systems. But it is imperative that CLI moves forward from the farm level to the regional scale, in order to secure regional synergism during agro-pastoral development. The national key R & D program, Technology and Demonstration of Recovery and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau, aims to solve the problems of alpine grassland degradation by building up a grass-based animal husbandry technology system that includes synergizing forage production and ecological functioning, reconciling the relationship between ecology, forage production and animal husbandry, and achieving the win-win goals of curbing grassland degradation and changing the development mode of animal husbandry. It is imperative to call for regional synergy through integrating ecological functioning with ecosystem services, given the alarming threat of rangeland degradation on the Tibetan Plateau. The series of papers in this issue, together with those published previously, provide a collection of rangeland ecology and management studies in an effort to ensure the sustainable use and management of the alpine ecosystems.
基金The National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFC0502001,2016YFC0501803)Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative from ICIMOD
文摘Crop-livestock integration(CLI)is a significant practice for livestock grazing systems in alpine rangelands.It offers the potential to achieve sustainable crop and livestock production.However,the separate crop and livestock systems that exist today have led to issues of intensive agriculture,rangeland degradation and forage shortage in the Tibetan Plateau.Developing crop-livestock integration through sown pastures can be an effective way to lift pasture productivity and improve livestock production.Thus,to explore the potential for integrating crop and livestock production in alpine grazing systems,an assessment of potential forage and livestock production using multiple datasets was carried out in Burang County,China.Results showed the marginal land potentially available for sown pastures was about 560 ha,located mostly in the Burang township of the Karnali basin.Accumulated temperature was the dominant limiting factor for establishing sown pastures,therefore cold tolerance of forage species and growth period should be taken into consideration.Furthermore,the number of livestock decreased during the period 2012–2016;yet often,the number of livestock in rangeland landscape was greater than that in agro-pastoral landscape.The average number of livestock was about 110000 standard sheep units(SU)in the study area,but forage from sown pastures and crop residues could potentially feed about 11000 SU,accounting for 50%of the livestock population in the Karnali basin.We found that integrating crop and forage production could fill feed gaps for grazing systems,particularly in the agro-pastoral landscape of the Karnali basin.The results of this study provide scientific support to guide future forage production and to promote further crop and livestock integration in Burang County.
