The roles for branch shelters and sheep manure to accelerate the restoration of degraded grasslands in northern China

Frontiers in Environmental Science

Environmental Science

Ruixia Wang¹  Fang Wang²  Stephen J. Morreale³  Rebecca L. Schneider³  Jing Liu⁴  Hongmei Wang⁴  Zhigang Li⁴ 

[1] Baijitan Nature Reserve Administration, Lingwu, Ningxia, China;College of Geographical Sciences and Planning, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China;Department of Nature Resources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States;School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China;Ningxia Grassland and Animal Husbandry Engineering Technology Research Centre, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China;

关键词: caragana branch shelters;    soil water availability;    sheep manure decomposition;    soil nutrients;    plant growth;    degraded grassland;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fenvs.2022.1089645

 received in 2022-11-04, accepted in 2022-12-02,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

New strategies are desperately needed for restoring the millions of hectares of degraded grasslands in arid and semiarid areas of northern China. This study evaluated using different combinations of manure amendments and shrub branch shelters for their impacts on soil moisture, nutrient availability, and plant growth over two growing seasons in a degraded grassland in Ningxia, China. A two-factor experiment was conducted, with three concentrations of 1.2 g m−2, 442 g m−2, and 884 g m−2 native Tan sheep manure as the main plots. Cut caragana (Caragana intermedia) branches were used to create branch shelters covering 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% of ground area, and these acted as sub-main plots. Soil water storage, soil temperature, manure decomposition, branch decomposition, soil nutrients, and plant growth were monitored for 2 years. Results indicated that soil water storage was significantly increased, and soil temperature decreased, under the 40% and 60% branch shelters. Decomposition rate of manure and shrub branches also increased with increasing soil water availability associated with the higher branch sheltering effects, although soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations were primarily driven by the decomposing manure. The combination of high levels of shrub branch shelter and manure application significantly enhanced plant production, although the bulk of the biomass was concentrated in one species, Artemisia scoparia. In conclusion, our study successfully demonstrated feasible and inexpensive solution for the restoration of degraded grasslands, which takes advantage of resources associated with overgrazing Tan sheep and Caragana shrub encroachment in arid and semiarid areas.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Liu, Schneider, Morreale, Wang, Wang, Wang and Li.