Seasonal hogget grazing as a potential alternative grazing system for the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau: weight gain and animal behaviour under continuous or rotational grazing at high or low stocking rates

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorDu, W. C.
dc.contributor.authorYan, Tianhai
dc.contributor.authorChang, S. H.
dc.contributor.authorWang, Z. F.
dc.contributor.authorHou, F. J.
dc.date.accessioned2021-07-21T15:39:49Z
dc.date.available2021-07-21T15:39:49Z
dc.date.issued2017-09-20
dc.descriptionPublication history: Accepted - 25 August 2017; Published online - 20 September 2017.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe traditional transhumance grazing system on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is being replaced by a system in which pastoralists are allocated fixed areas for grazing. In this context, we conducted experiments to evaluate a possible change to seasonal grazing of young animals for weight gain, and the effects of grazing management (continuous grazing (CG) vs rotational grazing (RG)) and stocking rate (SR) on the performance and behaviour of Oura-type Tibetan sheep. In Experiment 1 (June–December 2014), 72 Tibetan sheep (initial bodyweight (BW) 32.2 3.37 kg) were allocated to one of three treatments: (1) CG24 – eight sheep grazed continuously in a single 2-ha plot for the entire duration of the experiment; (2) RG24 – eight sheep grazed in a 1-ha plot from June to September (growing season), and then moved to a new plot for September–December grazing (early cold season); (3) RG48 – eight sheep grazed in a 0.5-ha plot, but otherwise as for RG24. All treatments had three replicates. In Experiment 2 (September–December 2014), 48 Tibetan sheep (initial BW46.3 1.62 kg) were used to repeat theRG24andRG48treatments imposed in the early cold season of the Experiment 1. In both experiments, increasing SR significantly reduced bodyweight gain (BWG) per head and increased BWG per ha in the RG treatments. In Experiment 1, RG, compared with CG, did not significantly affect BWG per head, BWG per ha, or feed utilisation efficiency. In both experiments weight gain was small or negative in the early cold season. These results indicate that removal of sheep at the onset of the cold season will be important for retention of the weight gain achieved in the growing season but choice between aCGandRGgrazing system is unimportant for the production efficiency in the proposed grazing system of Tibetan sheep.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis research was supported by the National Key Project of Scientific and Technical Supporting Programs (2014CB138706), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31672472) and Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT17R50).en_US
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/324
dc.identifier.citationDu, W. C., Yan, T., Chang, S. H., Wang, Z. F. and Hou, F. J. (2017) ‘Seasonal hogget grazing as a potential alternative grazing system for the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau: weight gain and animal behaviour under continuous or rotational grazing at high or low stocking rates’, The Rangeland Journal, 39(4), p. 329. doi: 10.1071/rj16119.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1036-9872
dc.identifier.issn1834-7541 (electronic)
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1071/RJ16119
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherCSIROen_US
dc.rightsCopyright Australian Rangeland Society 2017. Published under an Open Access CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)en_US
dc.subjectfeed intakeen_US
dc.subjectproduction efficiencyen_US
dc.subjectseasonal grazingen_US
dc.subjectstocking rateen_US
dc.subjectTibetan sheepen_US
dc.titleSeasonal hogget grazing as a potential alternative grazing system for the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau: weight gain and animal behaviour under continuous or rotational grazing at high or low stocking ratesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Seasonal hogget grazing as a potential alternative grazing system for the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau- weight gain and animal behaviour.....pdf
Size:
285.65 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Final published version
Download

Collections

Journal Articles